This past Fall I felt led to write devotionals for our MOPS group's newsletters but is has since been discontinued. I thought, since this is my blog, I would post some of them here. This is one I wrote back in November.
Grace is Sufficient
“But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, …” ~ Nehemiah 9:17
Since becoming a mother I have grown to depend on grace. From the stranger that is behind me in line at Wegman’s staring at my mountain of groceries on the belt and a fussy infant, to the woman sitting across my kitchen table trying to discuss a frustration she may be having with her own child while mine is drawing on the wall. Mothers need grace. Especially when attempting to cultivate friendships in this frenetic season of mothering.
I would like to hope that this is just a season, the distractedness, the busyness, but I am learning that this is my new normal. While we need to make time and invest energy into cultivating our friendships, we can not sustain them without grace for one another. I have to remember that schedules won’t always coincide, children will not always cooperate, budgets may not always allow, and thoughts may not flow concisely. My hope is that my friendships are strong enough to survive these things.
More important than the grace from the stranger and my friends, I rely on the grace from God. Mothering is too hard to go it alone. I am not in the Word as much as I need to be. I don’t spend the time to develop my relationship with Him nearly as much as I, or He, would like. I also make great excuses to get out of going to church. My walk is never as straight as it has been called to be. I believe the lies and forget the Truth. Yet, He is here. Always. HE remains; abounding in love. It is by His grace alone that I can be forgiven of my daily - sometimes hourly - shortcomings. His endless compassion for me reminds me that I must reflect that in my roles as loving mother and available friend.
Lord, praise you that you are forgiving of my hourly and daily short-comings. May I extend to my friends the grace and compassion you have shown toward me. Help me to abound in love and forgive. Surround me with women who extend grace towards me, that we may encourage one another.
