HOW GRACE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

 

Grace changes everything.  When grace stoops to lift and rescue you, it changes your life. Or at least it should.

On this Faithful Friday, we conclude our month-long series on GRACE, and I want to leave you with a vivid, tangible picture of this outrageous, irresistible grace by sharing an illustration that you will not soon forget.

Below co-author Timothy Paul Jones tells the story of taking his adopted daughter to Disney World.  This is a story of how GRACE dramatically and powerfully changed the life of one little girl who desperately needed to see GRACE DISPLAYED.

Why? Because we can talk all we want about GRACE, but until we show it, display it, and practically live it out, it does not have the power to change anyone or anything.

Please take a moment to read the excerpt from the book PROOF: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace to understand why this is the perfect illustration for how grace can change your life.

 

“Because I’m Yours”

I never dreamed that taking a child to Disney World could be so difficult — or that such a trip could teach me so much about God’s outrageous grace.

Our middle daughter had been previously adopted by another family. I [Timothy] am sure this couple had the best of intentions, but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption, and we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old girl into our home.

For one reason or another, whenever our daughter’s previous family vacationed at Disney World, they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. Usually — at least in the child’s mind — this happened because she did something wrong that precluded her presence on the trip.

And so, by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World and she had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, she had always been the one left on the outside. Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World the next time a speaking engagement took our family to the southeastern United States.

I thought I had mastered the Disney World drill. I knew from previous experiences that the prospect of seeing cast members in freakishly oversized mouse and duck costumes somehow turns children into squirming bundles of emotional instability. What I didn’t expect was that the prospect of visiting this dreamworld would produce a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food when a simple request would have gained her a snack. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered insults that were carefully crafted to hurt her older sister as deeply as possible — and, as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied.

A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. “I know what you’re going to do,” she stated flatly. “You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn’t earn her way into the Magic Kingdom — she had tried and failed that test several times before — so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth.

In retrospect, I’m embarrassed to admit that, in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, “If you don’t start behaving better, you’re right, we won’t take you” — but, by God’s grace, I didn’t. Instead, I asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?”

She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed.

“Are you part of this family?”

She nodded again.

“Then you’re going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and what’s wrong — but you’re part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.”

I’d like to say that her behaviors grew better after that moment. They didn’t. Her choices pretty much spiraled out of control at every hotel and rest stop all the way to Lake Buena Vista. Still, we headed to Disney World on the day we had promised, and it was a typical Disney day. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines, mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday.

In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. When bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her, and asked, “So how was your first day at Disney World?”

She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. “Daddy,” she said, “I finally got to go to Disney World. But it wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.”

It wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.

That’s the message of outrageous grace.

 

Life-changing.

Transformative.

Dramatic.

Don’t you want that kind of GRACE to change your life?

If you have not accepted God’s free gift of GRACE, please do not delay.  Claim it for yourself today!

You can experience the joy and freedom that allows you to say (like the little girl in the story):  I am not perfect, but I am His.

And if you have accepted this gift of GRACE, you need to start growing in it by giving it away.

 

“Grace is not something simply to be claimed; it is meant to be demonstrated.”

~ Chuck Swindoll

 

On Mindful Monday, I shared an acronym for GIVING GRACE.  Below you will see a printable I created that all of my email subscribers can download and print for FREE.  The link is below the picture.  (If you do not see the link, that means you are not an email subscriber, so sign up today!)

 

Below is my recommended reading list of books on GRACE for those of you who may want to study this topic further:

What’s So Amazing About Grace?  Philip Yancey

Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine   Max Lucado

Transforming Grace Jerry Bridges

It has been a humbling privilege to explore the infinite riches of God’s GRACE with you.  Our time together has reminded me of how grateful I am for this amazing grace that saved a wretch like me…

My last words for you on this Faithful Friday are simple:  EMBRACE GRACE!