Grace - this incredible gift from God. This abundance of forgiveness, love, acceptance, and joy all bundled into this one word. Sometimes I am afraid we use it solely to talk about forgiveness of sins. It is that, but oh, so much more. Grace is the good gifts of God poured out on us. Here are a few places that I have seen God's grace in our church and community just in the past few weeks.

1. A full pastoral complement! In my years as a pastor, filling the open positions on a staff takes months, at the least. Our process truly started in March, and by July we have two new, amazing pastors, making us a fully staffed church. This is absolutely God's grace at work.

2. Caring for others - I have heard story after story of this community finding ways to care for others. In this society that says "me first", I have seen God's grace through you all. Choosing to live by God's standards, instead of this worlds, is absolutely only possible through grace.

3. Finances - These are hard times. And yet, through these times, you have stepped up. Those who can, have reached out and offered to help those who are struggling. Those who have let us know that they're struggling, because of you, we can help. And, as we have let you know that we continue to be significantly behind in our overall church budget, you stepped up, and in June, for the first time this year, we made budget (even exceeded it by a small margin!) - something that doesn't always happen in summer months under normal conditions. Grace, grace and more grace. Thank you!

I could go on! Does acknowledging God's absolute grace mean these aren't hard times? Um, no. These are hard times. And, God's grace also means that we will continue to be cared about and loved through it all. I am so grateful.

—Jana Lee