Endurance: The Encourager Magazine

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Encourager: The Gift of Grace

Articles

The Gift of Grace
One of the most enlightening times in my personal spiritual journey was when I began discovering the gift of God's grace. Of course I knew that God had extended grace to the whole human race by sending His Son, Jesus, to die as payment for our sins and to rise again so that we could have eternal life with God. But deep inside I still operated in the belief that God's love for me had something to do with who I was and how well I performed. So God's name was at the top of a long list of people I h... (continued)

Grace is...
Grace is God's love applied to our human condition. It is seen in a helping hand for the weary, in compassion for the broken, understanding for the confused, tenderness for the wounded, acceptance for the fallen, and a loving embrace for the returning prodigal.

- Grace takes the high road in human relationships. It chooses to reach out rather than to retaliate. It chooses to forgive, accept, and embrace rather than to turn away in contempt or indifference.
- Grace doesn't judge or cond... (continued)

We Are God's Gift of Grace to One Another
I could hear the exhaustion and frustration in her voice. It had been another long, eventful day at the doctor's office. Her husband, fast asleep from the pain medication he'd received during chemotherapy, couldn't hear the whining of their children. They didn't understand why daddy was missing dinner-again. They didn't understand why dinner was late-again. And my phone call was just one of several calls she had fielded since the family arrived home less than an hour before.
The appointment w... (continued)

Experiencing the Gift of Grace in the Midst of Suffering
Angela didn't know if she could bear to hear the irritable and often angry tone of her husband's complaints one more time. In their 20 years of marriage, she had never been so upset with him. What was worse, she felt as much guilt and anger at herself as she did frustration with him. Of course she knew her husband was in great physical pain. She understood that his emotions were raw and that the pain medication made him moody and depressed. But she didn't expect him to take it all out on her. Af... (continued)

Receiving the Gift of Grace
Like so many others in the midst of the cancer battle, Frank was struggling. Of course the big issues bothered him. He felt like such a failure. Some days it was all he could do to get out of bed in the morning. He wondered if he would ever be well enough to provide for his family again. The little things bothered him, too. He was often rude to the medical personnel who cared for him. He was impatient with his wife and emotionally distant from his children. Nothing seemed to please him. More tha... (continued)

The Giver of Grace
To give is God's delight. His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given as the light of the sun.
He gives grace to His elect because He wills it, to His redeemed because of His covenant, to the called because of His promise, to believers because they seek it, to sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly, seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal.
Grace in all its forms He freely renders ... (continued)

Sharing the Gift of Grace
Day in and day out, the encouragers at the Outreach of Hope extend grace to those who are suffering. They share the gift of grace through phone calls, notes of encouragement, gifts of carefully selected books, and daily prayer. The encouragers make no claim to be experts" in sharing grace. In fact, they would be the first to say that grace is a "God thing." Yet their lives have been deeply touched by God's grace, and they feel privileged to be able to extend His grace to others.
On these pag... (continued)

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