Mijn Genade Is U Genoeg

From the time I was a little girl until I was a teenager my Oma had a wooden plaque in her living room that said 'Mijn genade is u genoeg.' It means "My grace is sufficient for you," and it's a quote from the apostle Paul.  I asked my mom once to translate it and what makes me chuckle now is when she told me what it meant it I understood it little more than I had in dutch! I had no idea what it was referring to nor did I have the drive at the time to figure it out. My mom's answer was 'genoeg' then.

My Oma lived to me 90 something years old. I remember her to be kind and I always loved her. I was 19 when she died and I was sad, but we were rejoicing because she lived so long and she had some strokes in the end that paralyzed her partially. She was ready to go.

Recently my mom wrote us kids a book about her life as a immigrant family from Holland to Canada and having read it I think my Oma must have looked to that precious plaque carted all the way from the Netherlands many times her life and she must have known exactly what it meant. When she felt lonely for her family and country, when she couldn't speak or understand the language when life was eked out of a hard land with hard work, she always knew that God's grace was enough. Even before that in Holland when she lived through the war and buried her child and later when she buried another child and her husband.... A life of 90 years carries many joys but also many sorrows of this broken world.

If God's grace was sufficient for her, than it will be for me too. Right? I've been thinking of the sign often lately and in the past years it's like God translated it for me! My mom gave me the English version and now God made me understand. "My grace is sufficient for YOU, Amy, it's genoeg, enough." It isn't too much, it isn't too little, it's "enough".

I'm thankful for Oma, for my heritage that has taught me daily of God's grace for me and even for the trials in which God has brought the true meaning of His grace home to me. My doubt in His sufficiency doesn't change that it is enough. Nothing changes God, if His grace was sufficient for Oma, it is for me too.

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. 1 Corinthians 12:9

Jesus, I Come

1. Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,
     Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
   Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
   Out of my sickness into Thy health,
   Out of my want and into Thy wealth,
   Out of my sin and into Thyself,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
2. Out of my shameful failure and loss,
     Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
   Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
   Out of earth's sorrows into Thy balm,
   Out of life's storm and into Thy calm,
   Out of distress to jubilant psalm,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
3. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
     Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
   Into Thy blessed will to abide,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
   Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
   Out of despair into raptures above,
   Upward for aye on wings like a dove,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
4. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
     Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!
   Into the joy and pleasure, Thine own,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!
   Out of the depths of ruin untold,
   Into the flock Thy love doth enfold,
   Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
       Jesus, I come to Thee!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1050#ixzz1lFnzxpXi