Grace-full

One of the readings in church on Sunday was from the book of Psalms, and Blake picked up on a verse-

Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;  (Psalm 98:8)

He leaned over to me and whispered, "Rivers clap their hands?  That's silly, Mommy!"

Smile.  I love it when he picks up on stuff like that.

I leaned back and told him that God is soooo good and that makes us sooooo happy that even the water and the mountains are happy and want to clap and sing.

And then, of course, I did the most logical thing and spent the next five minutes not concentrating on what Pastor was saying, but on what things I could or should have told him better in that moment.  

Was my answer good enough?  Should I have included sin?  I should have included sin.  And grace.  And....

Sigh.  

I finally realized that I probably didn't ruin everything with my short "God is good" answer, and I'll probably get another chance or two to talk about sin and grace, and...

Ding!  Somehow my mind chose that moment to start listening to Pastor again.  He was asking us if we, personally, deserved to be saved based on how we acted, on how we related to our spouse, on how we related to our children, on how we acted at home, on how we acted at work...

Uh...that would be a NO.

But praise God that "He will judge the world in righteousness" (Psalm 98:9), and not according to all of the things I've done!

You see...that's the crux of me.  Period.  That's why I'm typing all of this.  

The name Anne means full of grace, and growing up I always was sure that my parents had named me wrong.  I'm about the clumsiest person you're ever going to meet.  

But it turns out we're talking about a different type of grace here.  :)

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  (1 Timothy 1:14)

Praise God!  Praise God for Jesus!  Praise God that my sins are forgiven.  Praise God for his grace- his ABUNDANT grace- for me, and for you, and for everyone.  Hallelujah!

No wonder the rivers are clapping their hands, Blake!  I really can't think of anything more amazing!