If you have grown up going to church, the word Grace is something that you hear a lot. In fact, I think that Grace has become a popular word outside of church too.....although, I'm not sure that it is easily or clearly defined wherever you hear it. For me, Grace has always been a bit of an abstract, "out there" type of word. Something that I knew was powerful. Something that I knew was a gift. But something that I couldn't put into my own words.

 And through this, life was happening.  Exciting, scary, difficult, big, small things.  Things that make you question who you are and where your life is going. Things that leave you wondering if you would change things if you could. That leave you comparing your worst to everyone else's best.

Now, although I have said all of that, I wouldn't be sharing my story in a balanced way if I left it there. Nope, that is not the full story of my life these past few years. There have been good things. I have been really blessed. I have worked hard to move forward from some of those experiences and situations.  I continue to work on staying away from comparison and every day I focus on being who I am.

And then a couple of months ago I started coming across the word Grace. In discussions with friends, in articles on the internet, in blog posts.  And this word started settling into my soul, into my inner self. It kept making its way into my thoughts and my self talk.  

During my prep work for 2015, I spent some time on Pintrest looking for a quote for this year. Something that I could use as a bit of a mantra. Something that will lift my spirits when the challenges of life show up. Something that whispers quietly to my soul. Something that stirs up peace within me. Something that overflows encouragement. And which quotes spoke to me the most? The ones about Grace. 

I feel like this quote chose me instead of the other way around. I feel like it holds big promises and big responsibility. I feel like its going to really stretch me.  

 Now, sitting at the beginning of this year, I'm not all that much clearer on what Grace actually means or what it looks like in everyday life ,,,,,but I feel like this is going to change as I focus and sit with this word during the year.  Right now I feel like Grace means cutting myself some slack when I need it, when I have done my best but things outside my control have prevented me from doing what I had planned.  I aim to reflect on the word each month as we move through this year and look for the Grace in the everyday. I don't not what it will look like but I am sure that it is going to make for a great journey as I continue to live and document my life.   

So what is my quote for this year I hear you say? Well let me share.....