What I was reminded of at Sunday service about grace, perspective, and how it has nothing to do with me.

and a summer update.

Jul 21, 2025

I didn’t post or send an email like I usually do on Saturdays, because even though I’ve been working on multiple posts, I haven’t really been in the headspace (or the proper spiritual space) to finish. But today, right now, there is something fresh on my mind and impressed upon on my heart. When I started writing on Substack I had the intention of writing whatever poured out and sharing it immediately so I couldn’t talk myself out of it! So, here goes.

Perspective

As I mentioned, I haven’t really been in the proper spiritual..space..for lack of a better term. Maybe the proper term is perspective. Yeah, that’s it. A friend asked for prayer for the proper perspective the other day and I went, “Oh my gosh. Me, too!” I tend to struggle with having the right perspective. I think that comes with being a flawed, fallen human as we all are.

Pride pokes out its ugly head and everything becomes about me, myself, and I. Instead of focusing on who God is, I focus on who I’m not or what I don’t have. Or what I could be doing better, more of, or less of. The list is endless. But, do you see how it’s all I, I, I, I? Me, me, me, me?

Just a couple days ago, I confessed to another friend (who was also my biblical counselor) that some part of me fears God will not give me the desires of my heart. Why do I fear that? Do I not know that God is good and He loves me, and wants what’s good for me??

What if what I deem good for me isn’t what God deems good for me? Ah, there it is! Do I think I know better than God?! How easily I can be deceived! Believing the SAME lie that Eve believed in the garden. That’s how the devil works, by the way. He is still using that one lie, that same old trick. And it’s an effective one, clearly.

But God is greater and has defeated the enemy. He has already won. It is finished.

by Cindy Rodriguez of The Heart Stuff Co. Feel free to use as a wallpaper if you like!

Grace

“Grace is often misunderstood,” Pastor Scott said. I’d like to say that I understand grace. I know what the Bible says it is. And I know the difference between grace and mercy. I know that we are saved by grace alone. Sola gratia. God’s grace, His favor, is wholly undeserved. We could never, ever earn it no matter what.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 ESV

Not only does God give me undeserved grace, He lavishes me with it! There is so much more grace in God than there is sin in me. That is wild. And that does not diminish my sin at all, it simply magnifies His grace - there is simply that much of it. It never runs out.

How silly and easy it is to think, “I haven’t been reading my bible much lately so God will probably not show me much favor,” or “He must not be very happy with me.” My biblical counselor always asks, “what is true?”

The truth is, if I have put my faith in Christ and have been united with Him, I’ve already received the biggest measure of grace there is for God to give. I am in God’s favor. It is finished.

The trickier thing for me, and maybe for a lot of Christians, is remembering, believing, trusting that grace does not only save, it also transforms. I really needed to hear that yesterday. If I understand grace properly, it will transform me. Jesus did not save me to leave me exactly the same. It was always my destiny to be conformed to His image. Lord, help me trust you and surrender to you!

It’s not about me, or because of me, but in spite of me

As shown in Colossians 1:12-14 above, God is the one who gets all the glory and credit, for HE has done it all. That sounds amazing, right? He did the hard work and I get to enjoy the fruits of His labor. And don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely incredible and far beyond the greatest gift. Howeverrrr, because of my sinful flesh, here comes pride again saying, “Hey! What about ME?? Don’t I get a little credit? Isn’t there something I did or can do? What’s my role here?”

There is this fear that my pride will never be satisfied - that I will never be able to boast in something I alone have accomplished. As I mentioned earlier, there’s also the fear that what God has for me will not be good enough. Wicked wretch that I am…

Here comes the discouragement and shame again. Wait, didn’t I just write about God’s TRANSFORMING GRACE? What is true?

God is greater than my sin & shame. He is infinitely loving and merciful, and lavishes His grace on me because out of His goodness and His love, Jesus died for me. It’s not about me. It’s about Him and because of Him. He has done it, and at the same time by His amazing grace, He continues to transform me and bring me back to His fold.

Recent evidence of God’s grace in my life:

He used different people, music, His word, a sermon, and the conviction from the Holy Spirit the past few days to give me exactly what I needed and showed me that He is with me and for me. I sought Him and He answered. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
A woman at church said hi to me and she knew my name while I didn’t know hers and actually didn’t recognize her. So I asked her where I knew her from 😅 and she said she had taken my watercolor class at our church women’s retreat last year! And said that she still had the painting she made. It’s so special to me when women still mention how they enjoyed that, especially if they say they’re not “artsy.” It’s just a gentle reminder from the Lord that what I do matters.

Dear Lord, help me truly, fully understand your grace. Help me surrender to it. Help me trust you. Help my pride, Lord. Help my unbelief. Satisfy me with your love!