"His Grace is Sufficient"

I have to admit that, even though I LOVE blogging, with my new school schedule and assignments which are done on discussion boards (read "blogs"), I'm finding that my drive to write here is not quite as strong as it used to feel. But that's not such a bad thing. I'm hoping that you find what I do post now more inspiring or helpful, and perhaps just a bit less of my rambling.

This morning as I prepared for church, I listened to another talk on the Speeches page from BYU. If you have checked this site out yet, go there!! It's amazing!! The talk I listened to was entitled "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. This gave me such a new and wonderful understanding of, and appreciation for, my Savior and the grace He offers me. Instead of my standard comments, I'm going to share just a few quote from this inspired message. I hope you'll take the time to listen to it as I did...if so, click here. :)

“Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”

"The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are. Put simply, if Jesus didn’t require practice, then we would never become pianists. "

"The grace of Christ is sufficient—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes. The Book of Mormon teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we do, we do not discover—as some Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather, we discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks (see Philippians 4:13). Grace is not the absence of God’s high expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37). "