Grace... one year later!

It's hard to believe... but it's been over a year now since a trip to Starbucks literally turned my faith upside-down.

(If you haven't been following my story that long, check out my Nov 2007 archive page.)

Grace is still amazing to me!

That doesn't mean that it's been smooth sailing the whole time. There have been times when I still had twinges of legalistic guilt. But the one thing that I have held onto is the relief of knowing that my salvation is secure, even when I mess up.

Last year, I began to understand that God really truly loved me. In more recent months, I've grown even more in my relationship with God... learning that it really is OK to get close, that He really can "speak" to me without it being a hyped up emotional thing.

I still make mistakes... and I still tend to go pretty hard on myself when I do... yet, I've learned that God loves to show me His grace when I mess up.

There have been a couple of times in the past year when I thought I had totally missed God... and I probably did, at least in some of the details. But instead of "rubbing my nose in it" the way I used to believe a legalistic God would do, God always provided a way for me to get back to where I needed to be and learn from the experience.

I've also been blessed with an amazing group of role models, mentors, and friends -- awesome relationships that have been a tremendous blessing to me. I've been able to share things with them that I never dreamed I'd share with anyone... and they've helped me learn that God gives grace and healing when we're open about our faults.

Last year on Thanksgiving, I couldn't imagine ever being more thankful than I was at that moment. Yet this year, I feel that I have even more to be grateful for.

Thank you God!!!