Quotes for the Journey: Grace Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected. Jonathan Edwards

I began to comprehend that grace means God accepts me just as I am. He does not require or insist that I measure up to someone else’s standard of performance.  He loves me completely, thoroughly, and perfectly.  There’s nothing I can do to add or detract from that love.      -Mary Graham     Grace is goodness and respect given freely and unconditionally.  A sense of divine love and protection bestowed on us when we need strength and renewal.  Grace helps us know we are not alone and believe we are cared for and cherished.  Grace is a drink of clear, clean water in the desert.       -Sue Patton Thoele     Grace, the unmerited favor and love from God, enters our lives when we don't know how we'll get by.       -Susan Santucci     The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.      -Ramakrishna     I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to give in the eye of God.      -Anne Morrow Lindbergh      The moment of grace comes to us in the dynamics of any situation we walk into.  It is an opportunity that God sews into the fabric of a routine situation.  It is a chance to do something creative, something helpful, something healing, something that makes one unmarked spot in the world better off for our having been there.  We catch it if we are people of discernment.       -Lewis B. Smedes

It is not in virtue of its liberty that the human will attains to grace, it is much rather by grace that it attains to liberty.       -Saint Augustine

Grace is not a strange, magic substance which is subtly filtered into our souls to act as a kind of spiritual penicillin.  Grace is unity, oneness within ourselves, oneness with God.       -Thomas Merton

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. . . . Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying:  "You are accepted."        -Paul Johannes Tillich

The grace of God is in my mind shaped like a key, that comes from time to time and unlocks the heavy doors.       -Donald Swan

God is spreading grace around in the world like a five-year-old spreads peanut butter:  thickly, sloppily, eagerly, and if we are in the back shed trying to stay clean, we won't even get a taste.       -Donna Schafer

Grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve, and mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve.       -Dan Roberts

This is what I have learned: Within the sorrow, there is grace.  When we come close to those things that break us down, we touch those things that also break us open.       -Wayne Muller

One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing."  We live by grace far more than by anything else.  Accordingly, I find that the one thing which I want to put into practice in my own life is the conscious and deliberate habit of finding someone to thank.       -Elton Trueblood

Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself, which makes this void.       -Simone Weil

It is the nature of grace always to fill spaces that have been empty.      -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.       -John Stoot

We cannot get grace from gadgets.        -J. B. Priestley

Let me describe four practical expectations you can anticipate as you get a firm grip on grace. First, you can expect to gain a greater appreciation for God's gifts to you and others.  What gifts?  Several come to mind.  The free gift of salvation.  The gift of life.  The gift of laughter, of music, of beauty, of friendship, of forgiveness.  Those who claim the freedom God offers gain an appreciation for the gifts that come with life. Second, you can expect to spend less time and energy critical of and concerned about others' choices.  Wouldn't that be a refreshing relief?  When you get a grasp on grace--when you begin to operate in a context of freedom--you become increasingly less petty.  You will allow others room to make their own decisions in life, even though you may choose otherwise. Third, you can expect to become more tolerant and less judgmental.  Externals will not mean as much to you.  You'll begin to cultivate a desire for authentic faith rather than endure a religion based on superficial performance.  You will find yourself so involved in your own pursuit of grace, you'll no longer lay guilt trips on those with whom you disagree. Fourth, you can expect to take a giant step toward maturity.  As your world expands, thanks to an awakening of your understanding of grace, your maturity will enlarge.  Before your very eyes, new vistas will open. It will be so transforming, you will never be the same. Charles R. Swindoll

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