Amazing Grace

Grace~
               the freely given, undeserved favor and love of God


Amazing Grace! Oh, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now…I’m found! I once was blind, but now I see. It was Grace that taught my heart to fear, and through Grace, my fears were released. How precious it was when that Grace appeared the hour I first believed! I’ve already come through many dangers, toils and snares. It’s been Grace that has brought me this far, and it is Grace that will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me. His word secures my hope. He will be my Shield and Portion as long as I live. When my heart and flesh fail, and my mortal life ends, I will possess a life of joy and peace within the veil! While I’ve been here for ten thousand years, shining as bright as the sun, I have not one day less to sing of God’s Grace than the day I first began. Amazing Grace! Oh, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now…I’m found. I once was blind, but now I see.

If we could all come to fully understand the power in this song, I don’t think any of us would ever be able to stop crying. I sat in church this past Sunday and heard the most beautifully moving version of it that I’ve ever heard in my life. A man who has had leprosy for most of his life…his face sagging, wiping drool from his mouth every few seconds, his body wasting away, his fingers gone, his sight gone, his hearing almost gone…stood up with all the strength he had, and sang his heart out to his King. I don’t know if anyone else I’ve ever met can understand Grace like him. Because even though his life is soon to be over from the disease that has eaten him away, he knows and believes that God loves him. If anyone has a reason to question where God is, or if He loves, it is this man. Yet, he never doubts it. He never questions it. He clings to the amazing Grace that holds his life together.