He Has Given Grace

My story is a story of amazing grace.  I am the wretch that was saved by it.

Familiar tune throughout the centuries, each of us having slightly or even greatly different stories of also being wretched and then saved by grace.

Hubby and I have a reminder between us:  "By grace alone."

This week was a little bit of struggle for me.  There was a moment where I cried out to my Jesus, my mouth and heart in complete synchronization with each other.  I had to know He was here in my living room amidst the piles of my constant companions, the laundry and scattered schoolwork and wasn't in fact an imaginary friend.  Because some days, it just feels like that, doesn't it?

Sitting there in that arm chair that day, one thought repeatedly kept coming to foreground of my mind:  We have five kids.  Five, five, five...  Five has long been one of my two favorite numbers.  Why?  You got me.  When we got married, we had talked about how many kids we were hoping to be blessed with and it was five.  Five is what we ended up with, although that was never guaranteed to us.  But through obedience, we were blessed with our Jack who rounded us out beautifully.  (Jack's story)

As five kept rolling around in my brain, I wondered what the significance of five is in the Bible.  I have a firm belief that absolutely everything in the Bible means something about the character of God and He desires to share more and more with us if we care to seek Him out.  (Oh, the power of that two-letter word.) 2 Chronicles 15:2  I felt challenged by my loving Abba to find out what it meant and I was determined to seek out what gift He was wanting to give me.

On my bookshelf, I happen to have a book called, "Number in Scripture" by E.W. Bullinger.  I hurriedly headed to the section about the number 5.

Have you ever sobbed and laughed at the same time?  That day I did.

In Scripture the number 5 means Grace.

Oh, have I mentioned the meaning of Jack's name?

God has been gracious.

That was all I needed.  My Jesus was sitting there in the matching arm chair laughing with me, maybe even at me as the mascara and eyeliner streamed down my face.

There it was.  My gift.

By grace alone.

Has God ever given you a gift like that?  You know what I mean, the kind that there is just no denying that He orchestrated the whole darn thing.

(linking up to The Better Mom Mondays.)