I needed grace for the moment, but I didn’t expect her to climb in the backseat. Barely outside the white line of the curvy road, the gray-haired woman plodded along. Her hunched shoulders were weighted down by two overloaded plastic bags.

STOP for Grace’s sake

Half question, half statement, my daughter slammed on the brakes, “She looks like she needs a ride.” Most of you probably just shook  your head; I was proud. I depressed the button to roll down the passenger window to offer a ride, but she was already in the car.

My daughter and I introduced ourselves to the stranger sitting in our vehicle. Her name was Grace. Of course it was. Said she was going to Hot Springs for a documentary film festival, only she was walking the wrong direction and the film festival was the following weekend. We asked where she was from and her thoughts circled the airstrip but never came in for a landing.

I couldn’t help Grace, but grace helped me

Traveling this road at this time wasn’t on our agenda, but we left the women’s conference early since my heart and mind were in shattered pieces. Repetitive thoughts cascaded over my gray matter like a continuous waterfall which overflowed onto my cheeks. Then the door opened to a moment of Grace and my turmoil was interrupted. While the hitchhiker was in the car, not a single neuron fired around my problem. The moment of grace gave me the gift of reprieve from the ruins of my life. That’s what grace does.

Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” ESV

I asked Grace if she was a believer and she answered,

Yes! I was praying and praising God when you stopped to offer a ride. Good things always happen when I do that.

Yes Grace, I think I’ll try it.

James 4:6, “But He gives a greater grace.” NASB

Grace rescued me

A couple of weeks before my Grace encounter, I spoke at a missions conference. I challenged the women to anticipate the needs of others and carry something with them to give away. When they gave me a Cracker Barrel gift card, I tucked it into my wallet intending to look for an opportunity to give it away. (Don’t think I’m super-spiritual, I talked it so I figured I better walk it.) The exit toward Grace’s destination was next door to Cracker Barrel so we dropped her off armed with enough credit for a couple of meals.

For a moment, I forgot my troubles.

A moment of Grace

2 Corinthians 4:16, “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.” MSG

Thanks Grace

Do you need to let grace push pause on the troubles of your life?

Focus on the needs of others and receive a moment of grace.

Focusing on the needs of others pushes pause on our own problems #grace Click To Tweet

Isaiah 58:10, “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” NIV

Grace is a great distraction. Because of God’s grace, He remembers our sins no more. Have you met grace and received God’s gift?

Ephesians 1:7, “We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” HCSB

I hope you slam on your brakes pick up a little grace today.

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