Both Sides of Grace

Angela Clark Logan

Description

Marci’s strict, self-imposed rules nearly ruin her life until circumstances open her eyes to what she really needs to find peace and happiness: God’s grace.
Marci has always been most comfortable with life when she has a good set of rules to follow. Most people who know her well have learned to love her in spite of her legalistic approach to everything from faith to relationships. Now, Marci is a divorced mother of three. Her life is falling apart, and she is beginning to question all of her strict “rules.”
Sometimes rules just don’t work, and Marci sees the role they played in the disintegration of her marriage. Her strict conformity to what she believes are the rules of faith and relationships have prevented her from experiencing the true happiness and peace God wants her to have.
When Marci learns the hard way that life isn’t always black and white, she discovers something even better: grace. Before she can learn to give grace to the people around her, she must first learn to receive God’s grace for herself. As she learns to allow God to guide her, she finds happiness, renewed relationships, and a faith stronger than ever before.

Sujets

• Religious
• Christian novel
• Forgiveness
• Reconciliation
• Grace
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 05 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664276536
• Langue: English

Extrait

BOTH SIDES of Grace
ANGELA CLARK LOGAN


Copyright © 2022 Angela Clark Logan.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7652-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7651-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7653-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022915962
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 09/28/2022
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
From The Author
DEDICATION
To Scott ~ My partner, my friend, my biggest fan. Thank you for your constant support, for journeying with me in life and faith, and for giving me space to figure out what it means to live in both sides of grace.
To Missy ~ Thank you for being my first reader, for your encouragement at each step of this process, and for being my most faithful prayer partner. You are a treasure.
Chapter 1
M arci sighed as she heaved the basket of neatly folded clothes off the floor and rested it on her hip. Looking down at the assortment of jeans and t-shirts, she wondered how many of them would make it into the dresser drawers still folded. Shaking her head, she carried the basket up the stairs and set it down next to her boys’ bedroom.
They can put it away tomorrow , she thought as she stepped into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Walking over to her bed, she slid her slippers off her feet, climbed under the covers, and lay down, pulling her thick comforter up under her chin.
After resting her eyes for a few minutes, Marci sat back up and reached for the Bible on her nightstand. She opened it to the place she had left off the night before in the book of Ephesians and read the first three verses of chapter two:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Marci stopped reading, closed her eyes, and spoke verses four and five from memory. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
She leaned her head back against the headboard behind her and smiled to herself, thinking out loud, “Daddy’s favorite verses. I’ve heard him quote them more times than I can count.” Marci sat lost in her thoughts for several minutes before she shook her head and looked back down at her Bible.
“Now, where was I,” she mumbled to herself. Finding where she left off in verse six, she continued to read through verse ten:
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
“Grace,” Marci said quietly. “Such a little word for something so big.” Again, Marci lost herself in her thoughts, remembering the many times she’d heard her dad talk about grace.
“What grace really boils down to,” he would say, “is just lovin’ someone anyway.” Marci chuckled at the memory.
“Oh, Dad.” She sighed happily, clasping her Bible to her chest. “If it was only that simple.” Shaking her head, she returned the Bible to her nightstand and reached for the switch to turn off the light, then snuggled back under the warm covers of her bed.
Rolling away from the empty side of the bed, she closed her eyes and willed sleep to come quickly, knowing that it seldom did. After a few minutes, she pushed herself up on one elbow and repositioned her pillows, trying to get more comfortable. A few more minutes passed, and then she rolled to her other side.
Marci stared at the empty pillows that were now inches from her face. She reached out and rested her hand where another head once used to lie, and she felt the light happiness from just a moment ago quickly being replaced by the familiar weight of grief and regret. This was the hardest part for her: seeing where he used to be, feeling his absence with such clarity. The ache in her stomach grew more intense the longer she lay there remembering.
With a frustrated cry, Marci threw the covers back and climbed out of bed. She walked downstairs to the kitchen where she filled a ceramic mug with water and popped it in the microwave. She pulled a box of chamomile tea bags from the cabinet, and when the microwave beeped, she pulled the mug of hot water out and dropped a tea bag in to steep. Tea in hand, she padded to the living room where she sank into the couch and pulled a small blanket up over herself. She picked a magazine up from the coffee table and began to scan the pages, hoping to find something that would calm her mind. She prayed half-heartedly that the tea and the reading would help her to relax enough that sleep would finally come. It was a familiar routine lately, and she knew she would be lucky to get in a few hours of sleep before it was time to get the kids up and ready for school and herself ready for another day of work.
Marci set her mostly-empty mug on the coffee table and leaned her head back against the arm of the couch. She closed her eyes and did her best to empty her mind. It seemed they had only been closed for a moment when she heard a sweet little voice saying, “Mommy, why are you sleeping on the couch? And are we having a stay-at-home day today?”
Marci’s eyes snapped open to see her daughter Elayna—or Laynie, as everyone called her—standing in front of her and sunshine streaming through the windows of the living room. She gasped and pulled herself upright so she could see a clock. It read 8:15.
Eight fifteen? No, no, no! She couldn’t be late to work and the kids couldn’t be this late for school! Her mind began to turn in panic, and her stomach twisted with anxiety. And then she remembered that it was President’s Day and the bank was closed. Praise the Lord for bank holidays! And I guess it won’t hurt for the kids to take a day off, too.
Marci relaxed back against the couch, relieved, and looked at her daughter’s cherubic face. “You know what, sweetie, we are going to have a stay-at-home day. Or at least a hang-out-with-Mom day! Whadya think of that?”
The little girl giggled and threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “I think that sounds like fun, Mama!” she said.
“Good,” Marci answered as she hugged her back. “Why don’t you get the boys up, and while the three of you are getting dressed I’ll take a shower. Once we’re all ready, let’s go out for pancakes!”
Laynie squealed with delight and ran up the stairs shouting, “Get up, boys! We get to skip school and go out for breakfast!”
Marci chuckled softly and then pushed back her blanket and stood up. She inhaled a deep yawn as she stretched her arms and walked toward the stairs. In her bathroom, she took a quick shower and then pulled on her favorite pair of jeans and a well-worn sweatshirt. She pulled her hair back in a simple ponytail and dabbed her lips with some pale lip gloss.
Marci stopped for a glance at herself in her bedroom mirror before she went to check on the kids’ progress but then paused to give her reflection a more complete assessment. Her face looked pale and drawn, her eyes exhausted. She noticed her jeans and sweatshirt were fitting a little tighter than they used to. I really need to find time to exercise again. If only … Marci shook her head and turned to leave the bedroom.
On the way to the little diner a couple of miles down the road from her house, Marci called the school to let them know the kids wouldn’t be there for the day. She pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant an