I love the concept of giving God a shout out for what He has done.

We don’t do that nearly enough!

You may have seen the acronym GRACE as “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” Grace is also God’s unmerited favor, or God doing for us what we cannot. I find grace overflowing in God’s love, joy, peace, blessings, mercy, power, provision, protection, and wisdom. Thank You, Jesus!

Where did I find God’s love and favor—His abundant grace—this week?

What to say about this week? In all honesty, I felt so overwhelmed by technology! I spent way too many hours with computer problems on Monday, as I wrote in Ctrl+Alt+Del. Yet, it gave me some perspective. Then, later it the week, I tried about a dozen times to download MS Office with a (still valid) code. I probably tried about a dozen times, taking around 45 minutes each time, but only received error messages. Grrr!

For me, daycare is a necessity each week. I try to maximize my time when Lydia is there, so I can be present when we are together. Still, it’s an internal battle because I never feel like I get everything done. And Lydia doesn’t understand if I still have “work” to do; she just wants to play and have fun! (I’m pretty sure every parent struggles with this!)

So this week, I planned to use my “daycare time” to finally read (skim) a couple short manuals for online resources I use. I haven’t put much effort into learning how they work, so that was a major goal for this week. But the computer issues sidetracked those plans.

Enter God’s grace. When filtered through the lens of grace, I was able to regain my peace. I spent a little creative time cooking in the kitchen and realized that most of my “to do” list wasn’t urgent. My goals will still be there tomorrow! As long as I make a little progress, they will eventually get done. While computer problems are frustrating and inconvenient, they are not my main thing.

I realized I can try to force my plans to go one way, when God gently redirects me on another path. Sometimes I have to ask for help, which can be difficult to do. Often, I should be more realistic on what I can actually accomplish. Occasionally, it’s good to take a break and circle back around another day. But most of all, I need to remember:

People come before projects.

Even though I was annoyed with my computer and the lack of “progress” it caused, by God’s grace, I was purposeful in the areas that really matter. Clearly, being Lydia’s mom is priority, as are my other roles. Like being a good neighbor, friend, sister and daughter (not necessarily in that order). So, I made a few phone calls to family, sent a few messages to friends, and met a few needs that presented themselves as a result.

I took some extra time with Lydia each day. We built a fort, watched a movie, read some books, and played outside. We each focused on having good attitudes, and all things considered, it was a good week! And, today, I decided to try one more time…and successfully downloaded the program with help from online support. Thank You, God!

These are only a few examples, but God’s grace never runs out!

There’s grace in every situation—we just need to look for it. God promises if we seek Him, we will find Him (see Jeremiah 29:13)!

Where did YOU see or experience God’s grace this week?