Life changing true stories told to encourage, empower and inspire us!

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"Fill your mind with light, happiness, hope, feelings of security and strength, and soon your life will reflect these qualities." ~Unknown

Email me anytime: coreen.velvetoversteel@gmail.com

"The Greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance!" ~Brian Tracy

All post and stories are the sole property of Velvet Over Steel aka Coreen Trost. I write and create post in order to help others, so share as you want. I just ask that you link back or give VOS credit. Some of the stories are going into a book in progress. Thank You ALL.. for your support and help!!
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." ~ John Quincy Adams

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Having Grace...



 “Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul” ~William Hazlitt

What is Grace?  The dictionary offers these definitions:
1. elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
2. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.
3. Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.

None of us are or will ever be even close to perfect.  I don't expect it in myself or look for perfection in others by any means.  How we live our lives and treat others ... is what's important.  To me if you have Grace, it's truly in your heart... and that is what matters!

Marianne Williamson, in her book Everyday Grace, teaches that Having Grace is having Hope, Finding Forgiveness and Making Miracles happen.  She says that having Grace is having it 'all come together'!  I totally agree.

Having Grace inside of us is when we show kindness, compassion, beauty and love toward others.  It's an attractiveness, charm, gracefulness, and ease that radiates inward and out.

Having Grace towards other people is the ability to overlook a lot in their lives – not that you have to overlook everything, but that you ought to be able to ignore a lot of failures and blemishes and imperfections.  Grace increases your threshold of tolerance instead of increasing your expectations.  Grace makes it possible for people to have lots of second chances.  Just like you and I constantly have from God.
“Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.” ~Jackie Windspear

I found the following article and poem while researching this post.  They both explain Grace in everyday lives and well worth sharing.  Enjoy!

Grace... vs Karma   by Faith
Grace transcends karma. When you “get” a lesson without either blaming someone or exacting revenge, when you learn how to forgive and say thank you for every experience you have, then you are learning how to apply Grace to your life. When you give up feeling as though you are a victim of circumstances, Grace enters quietly. Grace frees you from having to repeat lessons over and over again. It’s your get out of jail free card!

Grace does not struggle. Grace simply observes. Grace does not judge. Grace sees the perfection in everyone. Grace is the act of being grateful and thankful. Grace finds peaceful solutions to every situation. Grace chooses to walk away from discord, into the arms of love.

Karma means cause and effect. For every action, there is an equal and measurable reaction. For example, you find your spouse and your best friend cheating on you. If you choose to keep the karmic wheel in motion, you would choose to hate them both and exact some form of revenge on them for their deceitfulness. Perhaps you’d play the victim role instead – you’d become bitter and spiteful. You’d never trust anyone again and you’d make sure that everyone knew how horrible your ex-spouse and best friend had treated you. Then in another lifetime, you would have the opportunity to do the same thing to the people who betrayed you…and so on.

If you choose Grace, however, you would work at forgiving them both. Through prayer, meditation, patience and gentleness with yourself, there would no longer be any more lessons like that one, ever again!

The soul is immortal. Everyone is family beyond the veil. We choose our roles and not everyone chooses to be “the good guy” while on earth. However, the villains that we love to hate, are made from the same cosmic dust as everyone else. The victimizers must play their roles convincingly, so that their victims will have an opportunity to either forgive them through the Law of Grace – or not through the Law of Karma.

Countries have karma, too – and cities – and families. There is individual karma and planetary karma. Applying the Law of Grace to every situation can, in time, clear all of it away.

The next time you find yourself in a difficult situation where you have a choice to make, challenge yourself to take a deep breath and choose Grace. Through the act of forgiveness, divine intelligence will help you to let go and transcend the situation. Soon you will find yourself moving forward and you will forget the pain of betrayal. Observe how much lighter you feel after having chosen the path of Grace. ~ by Faith
“Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.” ~ author unknown
Grace...   by: Sri Chinmoy
"Grace is our true meal. A true devotee can really and truly live on God's Grace. The Bible has taught us, "Man does not live by bread alone." This is true; but I wish to say that man can live by God's Grace alone. If a spiritual person, an aspirant, really cares for God's Grace, then I wish to say that he can live by God's Grace constantly and eternally.

God's Grace is God's self-revealing, self-fulfilling eternal Existence. We have to know that it is God's Grace that will give us illumination, liberation and realisation. The infinite life, the eternal life, God's infinite wealth will belong to the aspirant who really cares for the Supreme's Grace, which is our only meal.

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7 comments:

  1. this is absolutely beautiful and inspirational. Love your post

    thank you for your visit to my blog although it is my second blog that I just started. you might want to take a look on my most active one theworksofhope.blogspot.com for some poetry.

    thank you for following as well
    I shall return the kindness
    looking forward to reading more from you

    have a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think grace helps people to vibrate at a higher level which in my view makes this world a better place for us all.
    Beautiful post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Most Beautiful Post. You Have Very Well Described About Karma & Grace.

    Loved The Quotes.

    Dear, Thanks A Lot For Your Kind Visit & Sweet Words And Wish You A Happy Week Ahead :) :)

    Leisurely You Can Drop BY My Poetry Blog, http://rpsahana.blogspot.com

    Thanks & Regards,
    Sahana.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful Coreen. Thank you for sharing on Grace. Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really do like this Grace post! We should all strive to live this way...
    kim

    ReplyDelete
  6. When we were clumsy my mom would say," When they said do you want grace, you thought it was race and went off running."With 4 boys we could really tear up around the house some.Lovely thoughts today, Happy Valentines Day.

    The lady in todays story was Native American and is returning to where her family lived before being displaced.

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  7. God's grace is totally amazing! Love that song too! God brought it to mind as I read your post! Grace - undeserved favor! Mercy - withholding of what we would truly deserve! Have a grace-filled week!

    ReplyDelete

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