Grace that is greater..............

Let me just start this blog by saying that I am human. I have a sin nature. I was born that way. We all were. I know that sometimes we think once we've been saved, born-again, become a believer, a follower of Christ, that our sin nature goes away. Guess what? It doesn't. The older I get, the more convinced I become that this is a battle that will rage until either I die or until the Lord comes back. I will always have struggles. I will always be tempted to gossip, to lie, to be prideful, to hate... the list goes on and on. That is why I am so thankful for God's grace in my life.
I was reading tonight in Ephesians 1 and was once again struck at the overwhelming nature of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7-8 says "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace, that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." I really like the Message version. It says "Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the cross, we're a free people- free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free- Abundantly free!"
Can I just say that lately, God has broken me. He has pointed out struggles in my life and I've been on my face before Him crying out for mercy and grace and HELP! Sometimes I wonder why He wastes his time on me...why do I consistently have the same struggles in my life? Why can't I just be delivered from them? But I read something else tonight that spoke volumes to me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
So here I am.. boasting in my weaknesses in this blog. Because I want Christ's power to rest on me. That is what grace is all about. If it was something we could earn, it wouldn't be grace. This kind of grace is greater than anything we could every imagine and He is lavishing it on us even as we ask for it.