What have I done with Christ's Grace?

Watch this video and then read the rest of the article.

While I was watching this video the question came, "What have I done with His Grace?"

This question prompted part of a BYU devotional given by Brad Wilcox.  He titled his remarks "His Grace is Sufficient".  I would like to quote part of his talk.  "I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, 'You Mormons are trying to hard to earn your way to heaven.' I say, 'No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven.  We are preparing for it.  We are practicing for it.'  They ask me, "Have you been saved by grace?'  I answer, "Yes, Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully- yes!'  Then I ask them a question they have not fully considered: 'Have you been changed by grace?"  What a great question.  Have you and I been changed by grace?

In the LDS Bible Dictionary under "Grace" it says, "The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.  It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that mankind will be raised in immortality, every person receiving his body from the grave in a condition of everlasting life. It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."

In reference to the underlined portion, we are all lost without the Grace of God (John 1:8-10; Mosiah 16:4). Grace is the divine power to do everything and anything that is beyond our own power, ability, and capacity.

What am I doing with this gift of potential, love, and endless happiness?  I hope we are using it to better understand our worth.  I hope we are using this priceless gift to try harder the next moment, chance, or day.  I hope we are using this gift to more fully love all around us which includes ourselves. I hope we are using this gift to prepare for heaven.  Because of grace we are never to far away from hope, peace, and joy. Because of Grace the Savior is right there. 
 
In closing Brett Sander's said, "A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like Christ's life."  I hope we allow and use grace to accomplish just this.  That of our life being a mirror image of Christ's.   

"Impossible" I think not!

Glenn V.  Cunningham was born August 4, 1909 in Elkhart, Kansas.  Glenn grew up in the country and attended a school house.  His job was to arrive before everyone else and use kerosene to get the wood stove started, so when the teacher and other classmates would arrive the school would be warm.  Glenn showed up one morning when he was eight to start the stove fire with his thirteen year old brother Floyd.  The only thing that was different this morning was the container, that usually contained Kerosene, had accidentally been filled with gasoline.  The teacher and rest of the class arrived at the school house to discover the school on fire.  They quickly ran in and dragged out Glenn's body which had been badly burned on the bottom half.  His brother was not as lucky and was killed.  Glen was brought to a hospital and while he was in bed he heard the doctor tell his mother that he would probably not survive.  Glenn made up his made he would survive, and he did.  Later he heard the doctor tell his mother they needed to amputate his legs because they were useless to him.  His mother would not agree to the amputation.  Glen's response was a personal promise to himself that he would walk again.  He made it out of the hospital alive, but was confined to a wheel chair.  His legs had no feeling.  His parents would message his legs in hope that his legs would respond in some way, but they did not.  One Sunday he was wheeled outside.  He through himself out of the wheel chair and army crawled to a fence post in the yard.  With only his upper body strength he dragged himself up the post and dragged his lower body around the yard in a walking motion.  The grass was quickly trodden down around the fence as he went around and around the yard. Eventually he could walk with assistance.  Then he walked on his own and eventually ran on his own.  He was so excited that he ran everywhere.  He joined the Elkhart High School Track Team.  He started winning races for all of Kansas.  At the State Outdoor and National Interscholastic meet he set  the record in the mile when he ran it in 4:24.7.  He then went on to run at Kansas University.  There he won six Big- 6 , eight AAU national titles ,and an impressive two national NCAA titles all in the mile race.  He earned the nickname of "Kansas Ironman".  He went on to place fourth in the 1500 meter race at the Los Angeles Olympics. He toured Europe and went 20 for 20 in those races.  The next year he set a world record when he ran the mile in 4:06.8.  In Berlin in 1936 in the Olympics he placed second in the 1500. He was best when it came to indoor; he won six Wanamaker Miles, and as a consequence he was named the Outstanding Track and Field Performer in the history of Madison Square Gardens.  In 1938 when running at Dartmouth College he ran the mile in 4:04.4 setting yet another world record.  After earning a master's degree From Iowa University and a doctorate from New York University he retired and opened the Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch in his home state of Kansas.  On this ranch his wife and himself helped to raise over 10,000 children who were underprivileged. 

Yet another story of overcoming what others defined  "impossible".  In Luke 1:37 Gabriel has just finished telling Mary that her relative, Elizabeth, is pregnant even in her old age.  He then says," For with God nothing shall be impossible."  Do we really believe "nothing shall be impossible" with God?  There are countless stories of people who did not accept man's definition of "impossible" but instead turned to God and became and achieved so much more.  I have seen this evident in my life.  "For with God nothing shall be impossible."