Acts 3:7-8, “And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” God's grace, it takes people that are lame and can't walk and makes them able to leap. Now I'm sure that it must have been one of the greatest feelings ever for that guy to be able to walk. But what I am 100% positive of is that the best part of feeling God's grace for the first time is knowing that you will feel it a second time.

I didn't grow up in a Christian home so it's not like I was aware of God's grace from the start. When good stuff happened to me it was just good luck I guess, because of course, I am Irish. Even though I started going to church with some friends in October of 2008, I can't say that I was fully aware of God's grace until November 15th, 2009. That was the day I got baptized that was the day when I first felt God's grace.

Sunday morning + school year = exhausted child. On top of that I was nervous because I had to go in front of the entire congregation and have words come out of my mouth. Praise God that I don't have speaking anxiety. The girl that went two people after I did on the other hand, spoke so fast you could barely make out what she was saying. In addition to that, there was the fact that I was 230 pounds and the person that was baptizing me wasn't the strongest guy ever. Although that day was supposed to be an awesome day, in my head it was looking to be a disaster. Let me tell you one thing though, God was gracious on that day.

You remember a few seconds ago when you read about the nervousness about the whole speaking thing? Well, when I got up there, I wasn't that nervous. And the pastor, he dunked me and sure enough he got me back up. He must have been working out or something. Oh yeah, and there's one more thing, you're usually not tired anymore after getting dunked in a baptismal full of water. Like I said earlier though, those things that God did graciously for me, they were great, but they weren't the best part about the grace. After getting baptized that day I realized that living a life glorifying to God wasn't easy. I also realized that I didn't want to fake it.


That day, November 15th, 2009 made me realize that God did it all for me. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” God's grace is a gift; we don't do anything to deserve it. The first time I experienced God's grace I learned that that wasn't the last time I was going to receive grace like that. That's why the best part about feeling Gods grace for the first time is knowing that you will feel it a second time.