Romans 5:1-5 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." This passage of scripture indicates that our life in Christ is more than just a passive commitment to the Lord. One needs grace when they are slogging through the muck of life, when there are no answers and things just don't make sense. When people seem bent on knocking us down when we are struggling just to stand up. We have access to a "tow-truck" called grace that will pull us out of that muck. Grace provides a way were there isn't one. The reason we should rejoice in suffering is that in reality, suffering is a blessing, because it forces us to depend on God - to call out to him. It produces perseverance because we learn to know that our God will come through, maybe last minute, but never late. It tends to produce a team sort of mentality. God and I, we're going to make it. We learn to think like him. We're never truly disappointed, because of the love He's poured into our hearts by his Holy Spirit. That's how we can love and forgive those who have hurt us - He's given us the love to do it. Let your struggles and hard times serve to drive you closer to the Lord -and closer to one another.

Standing in His Grace