Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda Grace

Now, I'm here to tell you, that I truly wish I had prayed for Christ's grace, but did I? No! I just went ahead in my frustration and said less than thoughtful things to two different people I care about. 

 I wish I had paid attention to my feelings and kept my mouth shut and said a brief prayer for Christ to take care of my words, but I didn't. Whenever I do say the brief prayers, Christ does take care of the words, so why didn't I do it this time? I don't know, but I let the frustration take lead instead of Christ and regret it!!!!

 I apologized to both people and they accepted it, but I know that my words hurt. In fact, I apologized several times, but it didn't make them or me feel any better about what was said. Now, all I can do is to ask for Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda Grace, so I can forgive myself!

Example of a Brief Prayer

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Acts 15:11

I was with someone who was scooping up some free popcorn. They didn't ask me if I wanted any. The person told me that I should get a bag of popcorn and then took it from my hands. They wanted me to get the popcorn for them to eat later.

It's such a silly thing, but it really did irritate me. Didn't that person think about whether I wanted some or not? Couldn't they have asked me if I wanted some before they took it from my hands? I found myself getting frustrated at that person. Then, it popped into my mind that that's not what Christ wants of me. He wants me to be gracious to those who irritate me, but I was too frustrated to be gracious at that moment.

What I prayed was, "Popcorn Grace," and immediately Christ calmed me down, so that I didn't respond to the person in a less than positive manner. Although the "Popcorn Grace" prayer was very brief, I was asking Christ to please give me grace with this popcorn situation, so I would respond in a gracious manner, and He did! It amazed me that He knew and understood my brief prayer and granted me that grace, so I could be more gracious as an example of how He works in my life! I have continued to use these brief prayers which are changing my life and my response to others. If Christ can do this for me, He can most certainly do it for you, as well. Try it...what can it hurt?