Episode 6 - Becoming Through the Power of Grace
Episode 6 - Becoming Through the Power of Grace
This is episode #6 titled Becoming Through the Power of Grace
I am recording this episode just before Easter. When you listen to this, Easter will probably be over.
But as I have been reflecting on this season. Springtime.
It is a season of new life, renewal, rebirth and awakening.
As I am recording this, I am looking out my window. The grass is greening up. The bushes and trees have little buds starting to show. The mountains are snowcapped.
This is one of my favorite times of year.
Christians all over the world are preparing to celebrate Easter Sunday.
For many of us, as part of this preparation, we reflect on the last week of the Savior's life.
We reflect on his miracles.
His life.
His example.
His kindness.
His mercy.
His love.
And His grace.
I love this word.
Grace.
Here is a definition I put together from a combination of definitions I discovered in my search for its meaning.
Grace is the help given to one by God because God desires one to have it, not necessarily because of anything one has done to earn it. It is a freely-given, unmerited favor.
I recently finished reading Emily Belle Freeman’s book, Grace to Become. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so as well as her companion book, Grace Where You Are.
She has such a way with words and really articulates what I believe about grace.
I wanted to focus on the subject of grace this week because it fits so well with Easter.
I believe we are all looking for a little more grace in our lives.
Some people are wanting to offer a little more grace to themselves.
Some people are seeking to offer others more grace.
And many are seeking the grace of God.
All of us, at one time or another, have a belief that we are not enough but the truth is we are all loved, seen and valued for who we are right now as we are AND for who we can become.
We came to earth to become something more through this human experience. Not because we aren’t enough but because of the beautiful experience of becoming.
I want to add that our becoming is not a one time event. It is a continual process. That is why I use the word becoming. This entire earth life is part of the becoming. We don’t have to wait until we have become to have or experience joy. Creating a joyful life is actually part of the becoming process.
On their path to becoming, many people believe that it is up to them to do it all on their own without any grace.
Others believe that grace comes after all they can do.
That they have to just work and work and do everything perfectly and then the Savior will come in and offer His grace.
But I don’t believe that is how it works.
I believe grace is available throughout our stories- in the beginning, the middle and the end of each of our individual stories-our individual becoming.
He is always offering His grace to us.
Which is available to each of us as we are right now.
And it is also available in those moments when we are reaching for something more, something better.
We just have to look for it.
All along the way.
Every single day.
Enabling us. Helping us.
It doesn't matter where we are on our path of becoming.
This gift of grace is there.
I believe, when we combine His grace with our efforts, and the influence of the Spirit, we can become who we were created to be.
And the beautiful part is, as we access His grace, we are better able to offer grace to ourselves and to others.
The better we get at receiving His grace, the better we get at being givers of grace.
Becoming more like Him - the perfect Grace Giver.
The more I have thought about grace, I wanted to create something that helped me visualize it.
So I created a pdf that I would love to share with you. If you look at the show notes for this episode, you will see the link to get a free download of this. It is my gift to all of you that have taken the time to listen.
But I also want to explain it in more detail here on the podcast.
We are going to get into some math for a minute. Maybe it is because I majored in accounting that my mind went to math to visualize grace. I am going to tell you about the Grace Triangle and the Becoming Formula.
The Grace Triangle is something I came up with as I have been considering what grace means to me.
I want you to picture a triangle with each side representing an aspect of grace. For me, the first side represents the grace of God. The second side represents the grace I have for myself. The third side represents the grace I have for others. To me, all of these are connected. As I allow the grace of God into my life, the better I am at showing grace for myself and then to others. I don’t believe this is a linear process or that we come to an end point where we reach a hypothetical finish line of grace. I believe grace is a continual process. We repeat this process over and over again.
In this human experience, there are countless opportunities in life to give or receive grace. There are relationships and daily interactions that provide the perfect classroom for our grace education. When we have accessed or shown grace in one area of our life, you can bet there will be another area where our grace muscle will be tested. Continually growing and becoming “from grace to grace.”
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have leaders that teach and guide us. I love a quote given by one of them not long ago. At the time he was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He said, “if we look at ourselves only through our mortal eyes, we may not see ourselves as good enough. But our Heavenly Father sees us as we truly are and who we can become. He sees us as His sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light and everlasting potential and with a divine destiny.”
I would add to this quote by saying our Heavenly Parents see us as we truly are and who we can become. They see us as Their sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light and everlasting potential and with a divine destiny.
We are all created to progress, learn, develop, grow and transform. It is in our DNA. That is the purpose of this life - progress toward our divine potential - to become.
In reading Emily Belle Freeman’s books, she discusses the process of becoming. I believe there is a formula for becoming. My math skills are a little lacking when it comes to complex equations but here it goes.
(Effort + Grace)The influence of the Spirit = Becoming.
Let’s break this down.
Effort. I invite you to consider the stories from the Savior’s life where he blessed, served and healed people. In each of these stories, Those he served or their loved ones put forth effort that invited the Savior in to their story- their becoming. Yet, each individual’s effort looked different, unique to each person. For some, the effort was merely looking. For others it was reaching, or turning, or walking, or trusting, or dipping, or seeking or just believing.
Next we add Grace to Effort. The Savior met people in their efforts - in their stories. The middle of their stories. His grace looked like lifting, strengthening, succorring, overcoming, and healing.
Then we multiply the effort and grace by the influence of the Spirit who teaches, inspires and enlightens.
All of this together equals progressing, developing, growing, understanding, learning, transforming - becoming.
This equation isn’t linear either. It is a spiral process. We apply this equation over and over again in our lives as we are on our path to becoming.
There are so many external things that are outside of our control.
Things we can’t change.
But those things don’t determine WHO we can become.
When we try to control those external things or other people, I believe we block the influence of the Spirit and our ability to receive His grace.
Again, grace is always there but we have limited ourselves.
So the question we each must ask ourselves is, who do I want to become?
This we do have control over. We have agency to become who we desire to be. Who we were created to be.
When we focus on what we can control along with applying the grace formula and becoming through the power of grace equation the possibilities are endless.
So I ask you, What do you want to create in your life?
What are the efforts or actions you can take to make this happen?
How would you need to feel to fuel your efforts?
What do you need to believe in order to make this happen?
And finally, how can you invite grace into your story, into your becoming?
Grace for yourself, for your weakness, for being human.
Grace for others because they too have weakness and are human.
Because we are all here having this earthly experience and doing the best we know how.
And finally, the grace of God. How can we invite him into our stories? In our process of becoming?
Do you see what I did there? I used the model that I discussed last week. We each can apply the grace formula and the Becoming Through the Power of Grace Equation into the model to create a more joyful life.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to last week’s episode, you may want to do that to learn more about the model. This is the basic tool I use with all of my clients and everything I teach ties back to this concept.
I encourage you to go to the show notes for this episode. There you will find a pdf that I have included as part of this episode which includes the Grace Triangle and the Becoming Formula.
I have also included a link to a Q&A Call this week as part of my Seasons of Joy Community. It will be tomorrow, Wednesday, April 20th, from 12:00 pm. Anyone is welcome to join this one hour call where you will learn more about Spring Cleaning Dirty Pain.
Click here to learn more about Emily Belle Freeman's books that were discussed.
If you would like to learn more about what life coaching is, please feel free to schedule a FREE discovery call where we can work through something that is causing you a problem. Just go to seasons-coaching.com You can also learn more about my Seasons of Joy Coaching Program and my Seasons of Joy Community there too.
Thank you for listening. If you like what you hear, please share it with your friends and family and leave me a review.
Have a joyful week!
To schedule a free Discovery Call, join my Seasons of Joy Facebook Group, and register for my upcoming An Awakening Retreat go to Seasons Coaching.
FREE Becoming Through the Power of Grace pdf Download HERE.
