Every person experiences God’s grace, whether they realize it or not. My goal through writing this is to show the big and small ways I’ve seen God’s grace and kindness throughout the last five years of my life, in the hopes it will help you see how God is present in your own life.

It is by God’s grace alone that I am where I am today. Without him, I would be nowhere. The fact is, without God’s grace, no one would have anything. God’s grace alone allows us to live in community with others. It allows us to love, hurt, heal, and grow. What a gift that is!

Five years ago, I entered into a way of living that was quite contradictory to how the Bible says christians ought to live. I lived for the flesh, and for immediate gratification, which led to nothing but pain and discontentment. But because of God’s grace, there were people in my life who loved me enough to call me out on my sin. Did I listen the first time? No. The second time? Also no. Even the third time around after various consequences, I still didn’t want to admit that I was living in sin. I was so blinded by my own wants, that I openly ignored God’s grace of punishment and continued to live how I wanted.

Eventually things were taken out of my hands (another sign of God’s grace), and my family moved from Florida to Louisiana. A fresh start. Except the thing about sin is, it goes where you go. But with this change, I allowed myself to start seeing the grace of God in my life. He loved me enough to let me suffer the consequences of my actions. He loved me enough to put people in my life who cared enough about me to pull me out of my sin. He let me hurt, and then he healed me.

I had the joy of witnessing first hand God’s grace and love. He put back together what my sinful nature broke. He restored community where my sin and shortcomings damaged it. So, from here on out, I will be sharing how God saved me from the depths of sin, and the joy that comes from living according to his ways. This in no way means that I don’t still struggle to see His grace some days, and in no way implies that I always follow through and live a sinless life. But it does mean that I know what some of my sin patterns are, and I blessed beyond measure to know where true forgiveness lies.

If you’ve read this far, my hope is that my testimony will not only show you how God has showed up in my life, but also show you some ways that he has showed up in yours. Whether it be sin, loss, or anything else that has you doubting the grace of God, let this serve as a reminder that He is good. He is loving. He is faithful. He is Gracious.