Emily Belle Freeman - Grace Where You Are

Interior Illustrations: Allison Kimball

Other Artwork: Aleksandr Simono/Shutterstock.com; ESB Professional/Shutterstock.comEndsheets: Slanapotam/Getty Images

2020 Emily Belle Freeman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, at permissions@deseretbook.com or PO Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Freeman, Emily, 1969 author.

Title: Grace where you are / Emily Belle Freeman.

Description: Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: Bestselling Latter-day Saint author Emily Belle Freeman explains the concept of grace and how it works in our everyday livesProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019054791 | ISBN 9781629727271 (hardcover) eISBN 978-1-62973-944-1 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsDoctrines. | AtonementThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Grace (Theology) | Christian lifeMormon authors. | Mormon ChurchDoctrines.

Classification: LCC BX8643.A85 F74 2020 | DDC 234/.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054791

Printed in the United States of America

Lake Book Manufacturing, Inc., Melrose Park, IL

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Cover images Xesai / Getty Images; Borut Trdina / Getty Images

Book design Deseret Book Company

Art direction by Richard Erickson

Cover design by Heather G. Ward

Contents

Where It Begins

She stands right next to the conductor under the bright lights of the stage. Hair done up, wearing her best green dress, one hand grasping her violin, the other moving lightning fast with the bow. A child prodigy of fourteen, playing with the Boston Symphony as if she were a master, and yet she will still have to ride home from the symphony hall with her mom.

The audience watches transfixed as the little girl in the green dress performs from the center of the stage. Somewhere near the end it happens, in the crescendo of Leonard Bernsteins Serenade . The E string of her violin snaps, and Midori is left standing center stage with a broken instrument.

The symphony continues; the conductor is still waving his arms, the performers following his lead.

In that split second, Midori walks over to the concertmaster, who hands her his very own violin, and she begins to play againher bow, her heart, every breath in rhythm with the conductor. The concertmasters Stradivarius violin makes it only a few more stanzas before the E string snaps again. One more time, Midori walks over to the concertmaster. He hands her another violin so she will be able to finish out the performance. Again, she doesnt miss a beat. If you hadnt been watching closely you might not have even noticed. But Midori remembers it clearly. Years later she thought back to that moment. Everything happened very fast, she recalls with a gentle smile. Its not the most comfortable thing to play on somebody elses instrument, especially when I was so attached to my own instrument. To have to switch instruments is not an easy thing.

I watch the performance and I cant help but consider Midoris heart. I dont play the violin. But life has taught me what it is to hold a broken instrument, to hear the symphony continuing on without me, to consider giving up and walking off the stage. I know what uncomfortable feels like. It is within these moments that I, too, have come to know my Concertmaster. The One who is always watching, waiting, ready with another instrument in hand. Like Paul, I am confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in [me] will perform it (Philippians 1:6).

Even when I feel broken.

Especially when I feel broken.

He waits, right there where I am, in the center of my own story, ready for those broken moments. He knows there will be broken moments. He knows there will be more than one. But this Concertmaster doesnt hold out a violin; instead He offers grace.

Grace where you are.

And maybe it feels unfamiliar. Maybe grace doesnt feel comfortable. Maybe learning grace is a symphony you havent yet mastered.

Perhaps you wonder what grace is.

If so, then this is the perfect place to begin.

I am not an expert on grace, but my life has been filled to overflowing with brokenthe kind of broken that has led me to the Concertmaster time after time after time.

Those experiences have burned within and whispered to my soul to write. I want to share my journey with you, a journey filled with evidence of the Grace Giver. How He speaks through the sunrise, how He signals through the storm, how He watches over through the deepest dark of night.

How He comes.

Like Paul, I want to finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify... of grace (Acts 20:24). I pray that somewhere within these pages I will find the words to witness of His grace in my life.

There are some things in life I am certain of. Grace is one of those things. Here is what I believe: Grace is not just for the salvation of sinners, but also for the bestowal of blessings. It is given through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He was willing to come down, and come in, to help each of us become. His grace is the gift of transformation. An endowment of strength. Divine assistance. An enabling power. The elevating of souls and the healing of hearts. Grace is His favor, and His kindness, and the tenderness with which He extends His mercies. It is His touch on our heart and how we reflect that within our life. Grace is always there, but we notice it most in our weakness. In our brokenness.

Receiving grace isnt an event. Its a story.

Its my story, and its your story.

And it can happen now. In this split second. Because the Concertmaster is willing to give up His own instrument for you. He is offering His best. He wants to repair whatever is broken in you with His grace.

Right here.

Where you are.

Grace be with you.

2 Timothy 4:22

This place where you are in your story?

This is where grace begins...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDQp8iJRqTY.

chapter one

A Gift of Radical Generosity

Our family is growing. There are new spouses and new babies, and I often find myself window-shopping for kitchen tables. I long for a gathering place with good food and good conversationthe place we circle round. It has become an obsession, creating this space. Thoughts of it fill my daydreaming. Enough chairs for everyone, dinner plates laid out on the table. Matching silverware, crystal glasses filled with ice water, warm rolls and soft butter. Light from the windows filtering through the white blinds, and we are all here together.

Perhaps I am not the only one with this dream.

Once a certain man decided to host a great supper. The table was setfood overflowing in abundance, glasses topped off, candles lit. The invitations had been delivered weeks before. The day of the event was filled with preparations for the celebration. Once everything was ready, a servant was sent to tell all the people to come, but each guest had an excuseI have bought a piece of ground, I have bought five yoke of oxen, I have married a wife. It was the business of everyday life. And what keeps you from feasting with the Lord?