Out of Line Grace

I was in a store that was full to the hilt. People were everywhere! I decided to shop more and wait for the long line to go down, since it's not my favorite thing to wait in long lines.

 When it did, I lined up behind another woman. She left the line and started looking at other things. Knowing that I've done things like that before instead of waiting in long lines, I asked the lady if she wanted to be next when the salesperson called me to the counter.

 She declined coming back to the line and continued to shop, which really isn't the point of this post. It's that Christ gave me Out of Line Grace, where it didn't bother me when the lady left the line to shop while waiting. 

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?