When Grace Is Not Enough

God’s grace is sufficient. I believe that with all my heart. My understanding of His grace is being on the receiving end of his unmerited, undeserved favor. His grace covers my sins. Without his grace, I would surely be lost.

But there are days when it is simply not enough. I don’t know if that sounds sacrilegious or blasphemous, but it is just how I feel.  Some days I need more. I need his comfort. I need to feel loved and cherished. I need to feel that no matter how awful I know I am, he truly loves me. And more than that – I need to know he likes me.

Yesterday was one of those days. In my process of healing and learning, sometimes hurtful things happen. Sometimes someone says or does something that just cuts me to my core. Even if I know they didn’t mean it the way I took it, or even worse, even if I know I deserved it, the hurt is real and leaves me reeling in shock and pain. (Especially if I deserved it.)

And my God knows that. Because he knows me so well, he is not only willing to give me more than his grace, he loves to lavish his reassurance and peace and serenity on me.  He loves to show me I am his treasured daughter, cherished and desired. He longs to pour out his love all over me, drenching me with it.

This morning I did something I rarely do. I just picked up my Bible and let it fall open in my lap. Now it is no surprise that it fell open to the Psalms, because I spent much of my quiet time reading, no – devouring the Psalms.  But it fell open to Psalm 147. There are other scriptures that perhaps are more comforting, but when I read the words in verses 2 & 3, I heard his voice. He told me that Jerusalem is the place he is preparing especially for me. And he told me that I am an exile of Israel. He offered to heal my broken heart and bind my wounds, on the spot. And for now, that is more than enough.

²The LORD builds up Jerusalem
   he gathers the exiles of Israel
³ He heals the brokenhearted
   and binds up their wounds.
     Psalm 147: 2-3

Thanks for listening. Caro