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Peace: Attainable or Illusive?

At one time or another, we’ve all been convinced that we’re the only one who can’t get it right. We have a kindred spirit in Vivian Sinclair.

The Bride Wore Blue, Book 3
The Sinclair SIsters of Cripple Creek series

“Vivian was nearly to the corner when she heard footsteps slapping the muddy road behind her. Her back and arms ached under the weight of her skirts as she forced a faster pace from her tired legs. Rain stung her eyes. A furious pulse pounded in her ears. Still she ran. How could she have been so stupid? So blinded?”

The youngest Sinclair sister arrived in Cripple Creek with a secret and felt unlovable, beyond God’s grace. The shame she carried pursued her.

Vivian made the suffocating mistake of measuring herself against the expectations of others and the appearance of those around her.

“God doesn’t list sins from the worst down to the slightest and judge a person accordingly. Only people do that.” Carter Alwyn in The Bride Wore Blue

HOPE FROM THE WORD

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ~Romans 5:1-2 KJV

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READING

Romans 3:23-25
1 John 1:8-9
Ephesians 2:8-9
John 14:6
1 Corinthians 12:9J
1 Peter 5:10
2 Peter 3:18
Proverbs 3:34

TRUTH TO EMBRACE

Everyone needs forgiveness. Nothing we can do in and of ourselves can reconcile us to our Holy God. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, it is God’s free gift of amazing grace that bathes us in His forgiveness and washes us clean. And it’s the same for everyone. The natural response of someone bathed in God’s grace is to pour His grace onto others.

TALK IT OVER

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from sin. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steafast spirit within me. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Thank You, Jesus, for being the Way to the Father; for being the Truth and the Life. Amen (Psalm 51:1,2,10,17 and John 14:6)

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING

A Violent Grace by Michael Card
The Gift for All People by Max Lucado
Once Upon a Tree by Calvin Miller
The Color of Grace by Tonia Triebwasser
No Wonder They Call Him The Savior by Max Lucado

REFLECTION

Have you embraced God’s amazing grace?

The gift of God’s grace came at a price for the Father who gave His only Son Jesus as payment for our sin. What does God’s gift of grace say about how He views you?

Has God used someone in your life to demonstrate for you God’s grace?

© 2012 Mona Hodgson, Author and Speaker

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