Someone once told me that my reality is God's grace.

Over the last week, I have given much thought to those words as they have weighed heavily on my heart in light of circumstances in my life. What is this thing called grace? And how do I live in it?

Friday night, after a very moving church service, I came home and watched The Passion...and wept. You see, at church, we had a "walk through" of that day when Christ died. There was a room that talked about when Jesus was praying in the garden...sweating drops of blood because of the weight of what was to come. Yet, despite that burden, He did not turn back - He moved forward. Then we saw models of the instruments used in His lashings. However, the one thing that caught my attention more than any other was the cross. Most of us look at the cross and remember what Jesus accomplished through this most cruel form of death. Friday night, we were challenged to "pick up the cross"...I bent down half-heartedly thinking I would be able to lift it. I could not.

I am overwhelmed at what Jesus took on that day. He literally had the weight of the world upon His shoulders. Then after being severely beaten, carried a cross to that hill. After trying to lift a cross myself, I realized that it was only by God's hand that Jesus was able to carry it any distance at all. A fact that reinforced that this whole thing was by a divine design, written about hundreds of years before it all happened.

Thinking back on what Jesus did that day - dying a death like that in my place...there is no response other than utter reverence and gratefulness. He endured so much pain on my behalf and on yours. If He was willing to come down from Heaven to do that, then I think it is safe to say He loves us with a fierce love that won't let go.

And that, my dear friends, is where the reality of grace makes its entrance. His death and resurrection make possible my hope and joy. Hope that one day I will be with Him and joy that He loves me enough to die for me. What else do I ever need apart from that?

Nothing...for His grace is sufficient.

He is risen...so rejoice!