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READ: EPHESIANS 1:7-9; 2:1-10; 3:14-21\n\n\n\nWhen I was young, I didn\u2019t realize the extent of God\u2019s grace. As a child, I prayed over and over asking God to forgive me for my sins. I thought maybe it took a special kind of prayer to be saved from sin and death, and I wanted to make sure I said it. I knew that God loved me, but I just didn\u2019t realize how big His love was.\n\n\n\nNow I can see God\u2019s love much better, even though it\u2019s still hard to fathom. God knew that I needed to be saved from my sins, so He sent His Son Jesus to live among us and ultimately die on the cross. And then, He rose from the dead, defeating sin and death forever. God knew I couldn\u2019t be perfect and wouldn\u2019t make it on my own, so He made the way through Jesus Christ, His perfect Son.\n\n\n\nJesus is the way and the only way. I can\u2019t get there on my own. No prayer I say is good enough to earn a place in God\u2019s eternal kingdom. Nothing I could do could get me there. It\u2019s only through His grace that I am saved.\n\n\n\nOnce I have confessed my sin and, by faith in Jesus, accepted the gift He offered in His death on the cross, I am free from my sins. I am a new creation. The old me is gone, and the new me is washed in His blood and covered with His grace.\n\n\n\nWhen I was young, I worried that my prayer would somehow wear off or that God would no longer forgive me if I did this or that. Now I know that His love is so much greater than I imagined then, and His grace is big enough to cover me. \u2022 Bethany Acker\n\n\n\n\u2022 Have you ever worried that your prayers are not enough? Have you ever begged God over and over to save you? You may have heard that works can\u2019t save us, but have you ever thought of prayer (or saying \u201cthe right prayer\u201d) as a work? Anytime we find ourselves relying on something we do instead of something God does, He invites us to turn back to Him and rely on His grace. We can rest in His steadfast love, knowing that Jesus has already done the work of saving us.\n\n\n\n\u2022 Grace is sometimes defined as \u201cunmerited favor\u201d or \u201cgetting what we don\u2019t deserve.\u201d God\u2019s grace is amazing\u2014He freely gives us eternal life even though we could do nothing to earn it. If you want to know more about this grace and what it means to be saved through Jesus, who is a trusted Christian in your life you could talk to? (You can also find out more on our \u201cKnow Jesus\u201d page.)\n\n\n\n\u2022 If you want to dig deeper, read John 3:16; 14:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 7:14. \n\n\n\nBut he said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you\u2026\u201d 2 Corinthians 12:9a (CSB)