Give them Grace

How many times has God given you his grace? How many times have you done something and you've been given grace? Whether it's cutting someone off when you're driving, or really just being terrible to someone. I can tell you giving grace is the HARDEST thing I battle with on a daily basis. When someone does something wrong to you the first automatic human thing you think is revenge right? Being a step mom I get crap CONSTANTLY from all kinds of people. I think it's really hard as Christians to swallow the fact that God has given you grace and continues to do so on a daily basis. Were supposed to be living like Him. When someones a real jerk to me I have to decide to give that person grace rather than revenge. So today's blog post goes over ways to show other people grace in different situations.


1. Look for people who need you.
How many times do you have that idle chatter with your co worker? Or the woman at the grocery store? People can be having a really crappy day and by you smiling and holding the door for them you may have graced them with something that made their day better. You don't even have to look for something monumental. Becky was at the grocery store recently and the woman in front of her kept having her card declined, Becky felt compelled to pay that womans bill. That made life so much better for that woman and showed her that us as a human race can be graceful!

2. Respond with Grace.
Let me just tell you this one makes me cringe because I work on it every single day. People can be RUDE and MEAN and SPITEFUL. I've had situations where I really just wanted to tell them about themselves. But that's not what God wants from us. If people criticize you or call you names or are just nasty to you, just move on. Thank them for their opinion and keep it moving. A quick response with anger or hostility is just going to keep eating away at you. Who wants that? The more you respond with a calm spirit and grace the happier you are and perhaps they will move on with their lives.

3. Forgive with Grace.
Again ... tough one. I struggle with forgiveness every single day. I want to forgive you, but I also want to forget you. Which is super acceptable but forgiving someone who did you wrong is really tough. When someone comes to you with an apology, accept it. To be completely honest a lot of times you're not going to get an apology because they don't think they're wrong. You have to be okay with forgiving them anyway. Give it to God and walk away which is way easier said than done. I've just gotten comfortable with Him giving Him my worries and fears and just forgetting about it. Learn to forgive and move on, otherwise the hate can consume you.

4. Learn to say "I'm sorry"
legit, learn this. now. I had to grow up at one point and realize that when I'm wrong life is way easier to just realize I'm wrong and own up to it. Even if it's something at work and I drop the ball on something, my boss is more likely to respect me if I just say "yeah. I'm sorry. that was my bad". Learn from your mistakes. Whether it's a friend, or your spouse, own up to your mistakes and apologize for them. People at my hospital absolutely love me (tooting my own horn) because I get things done but if I make a mistake I own up to it. Learn to say I'm sorry to people, it's going to help your relationships in the long run.

5. Take interest in others
This is a huge thing in my marriage that me and Michael work on constantly. Michael is a LOVER of politics. Politics make me want to jab a pencil in my ears. BUT that's something my HUSBAND enjoys and I really needed to swallow that. SO I started listening to Breitbart radio and trying to get into what he enjoys. I like watching the Gilmore girls and going on walks (not simultaneously LOL). Therefore even though he's extremely exhausted after work he goes on my ridiculously long walks with me and our dog. He goes to parks and lakes and rivers and spends time with me exercising. Try to take interest in your friends, family and co workers because they'll appreciate the time you've taken to get to know them.


All of these things are showing grace. God has made us human therefore were prone to mistakes and sin. That's how were built. But were also taught to follow his footsteps and try to be better people. People are assholes. You can't beat around that bush. But if I got mad and sat on the anger every time someone wrote something nasty about me I'd just be mad all the time. I want to be happy! So take this with you and go out into the world with your new found grace and try to pay it forward :)


Kristen