Let me begin with a confession—I have been known to have a lead foot. My first speeding ticket was in high school driving my grandmother’s mammoth wood-paneled station wagon. Another time, I was racing back to college to see my boyfriend, now husband. That one was a doosy. My father took my car away for the rest of the semester! On a recent Friday afternoon, I was driving home from a particularly painful funeral. With God as my witness, and quite out of character, I was actually moving at a snail’s pace. Lynnwood Blvd in Nashville is infamous for awarding speed violations. A cop’s honey hole! A year ago, they lowered the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph, which proves difficult for me during the morning rush to school. Many friends, family and church members, like me, are familiar with the dreaded TN state emblem-embossed speeding ticket. But this time when the blue lights started flashing, I just kept going. It wasn’t until the sirens revved up to a high pitch and the police car was riding my bumper that I finally pulled over for all of creation to witness my disgrace. When Officer Roark approached my window, exasperated, I said, “I don’t understand why you pulled me over, I was not speeding this time!” “Ma’am, your tags are eight days expired. License and registration, please.”

When he finally returned to my car, I said, “Officer Roark, would you mind if I step out of the car?” “Sure, Ma’am.” “Would it be okay if I take a picture of you, me and the blue flashing lights?” “Sure, Ma’am.” “It’s been a “hard on the heart” kind of week for me and getting a ticket at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon just may be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”  Officer Roark and I then took a picture standing together in front of the blue flashing lights. He handed back my driver’s license and registration…but no ticket?!?!

“Ma’am, I’m going to show you some grace today.”

Euphoric, I said, “Officer Roark, I’m putting you and me up on Instagram! In this crazy, upside-down world, we gotta share any experience of grace. Thank you, sir.”

For over eighteen years, I have been writing about love, mercy, and hope, but rarely, if at all, do I mention grace. And yet, grace is a natural law of God’s creation. It is a bit of energy by which God sustains our lives and gives us hope. There is absolutely nothing you can do on your part to obtain grace for yourself, except believe it is possible and then make yourself open and vulnerable enough to receive it. Grace is a divine gesture of love. It occurs in real time and space briefly righting the equilibrium of the world with God’s generosity. Goodness then prevails. I did not deserve grace from Officer Roark.  If anything, he probably looked at his computer screen and thought, “Wow, look at her track record. She certainly deserves another one!” And instead, he showed me grace, lifting my spirit and certainly my difficult day.

Grace takes you off guard. It is the unexpected gift with no conditions or attachments leaving you wonderfully warm and hopeful inside. Revelations of grace prove that no matter how broken our situation or this world, God can actively work to open a new way and show us love. Grace is rescue in times of struggle, doubt, and loss. A kind word, an affirmation of love, an experience of profound beauty or an undeserved mercy lifts up the soul. We are given what we need in that moment to keep us stepping forward. God is always focused on giving us life.

Surprises of grace transform the ordinary, mundane days of life into ones far more exciting—marvelously holy. We experience the world at once as God intended it to be.

When my son Finn was going through his “Spider Man” phase, 24/7 decked out in his red and black webbed costume, he once asked me in the kitchen, “Mom, do I have superpowers?…because sometimes I feel like I do.” My answer was a big, smiling, “Yes!” When we participate in the mysterious operation of free grace, we channel God’s loving powers. We draw from the divine within us. Extending grace to another, we are brought closer to God and become the people God created us to be.

Outrageous as it seems, but God actually taps us to love and protect His holy creation too.

The Bible is filled with stories of ordinary human beings operating on a higher plane, wielding sacrificial love as a superpower. Remember the father who rolled out the red carpet to welcome home the prodigal son as his beloved prince. Or the vintner who paid the workers who showed up to work in the vineyard at the end of the day the same wage as those who had labored from sunset to sundown. Grace often makes no logical sense, even unfair. Why in the world would Jesus break bread with Matthew the tax collector, the villain of his community? Or promise heaven to the worst thief on the cross nearby? Grace is certainly not deserved. But that is the secret of its power. In God’s eyes, no one is beyond saving. Grace is God saying, “I see you. I’ve got you. I love you.”

Jesus was the embodiment of grace in the human form. Every person who crossed his path was transformed for good by his generous love. He showed us the Divine power is within us.

Receiving grace is reason enough to keep believing. Even more powerful is the exquisite feeling when God works through you dispensing grace. In that moment, your life is elevated—it holy matters!