What does it mean to “give yourself grace”? Giving yourself grace means receiving God’s gift of Jesus, who understands your humanity and comes alongside you to work on your behalf. Offering grace to yourself looks like being gentle with yourself instead of shaming, compassionate with your struggles instead of beating up your heart, and kind with your weaknesses instead of listening to your inner critic.
Offering grace to myself was a foreign concept to me. Wasn’t life made up of productivity, efficiency, and goal accomplishment? The idea of giving myself grace felt like a trip to Lazy Town or quitting or was a cue that I couldn’t hack it. No, ma’am, I would never give myself grace.
Jesus had other plans. I came to the end of myself. With two little girls to care for, a desire to parent perfectly, and look like my pre-baby self had me sitting on a counselor’s couch. Through counseling, books about what grace might look like in my real life, and supportive friends, I found practical ways to give myself grace right where are was. You can give yourself grace too.
You want to give yourself grace, or you wouldn’t be here. I am so glad you’re here. You want to learn how to be kind, compassionate, and gentle with yourself so you can be kind, compassionate, and gentle with others.
Here, you’ll find tried-and-true ways to give yourself grace. I’ve not only tested but lived these. You can be a grace-giver to yourself today.
Are you ready?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Give yourself grace when you try something new
- Give yourself grace when you have a bad day
- Give yourself grace in your regular, daily life
- Give yourself grace in a crisis
- 3 mindsets to give yourself grace
- Books about how to give yourself grace
Give yourself grace when you try something new
How can you be kind and compassionate to yourself in the middle of all the craziness, it seems like we only have time to survive, not figure out how to be gentle with our hearts, plans, and people.
Here are five practical steps when you start something new, whether that’s a new job, retirement, or bringing home a baby.
- Think of your new season as a science experiment.
- Remember that you will figure it out.
- Draw boundaries.
- Reach out to friends who will help you verbally process what you’re feeling and who don’t believe they need to fix it.
- Take a pause.
- Align your priorities with your reality.
Go Deeper: Grief, grace, and hope when you enter a new season
Give yourself grace when you have a bad day
Have you ever had a day where you felt overwhelmed, insufficient and unkind right out of the gate? How can we stop the craziness that is telling us that we can do it all if we would just pray a little harder, get more organized, and just get it together? How do we rescue this day?
Here are three ideas to offer yourself grace during a bad day:
- Recognize you are not the rescuer.
- Remember, Jesus is your person.
- Ask yourself if the expectations you hold are the expectations God has of you.
Go Deeper: How to Rescue a Bad Day (by giving yourself grace)
Give yourself grace in your regular, daily life
Extending grace to others may be easy, but extending compassion to yourself sounds like a luxury when there’s so much work to be done. So if compassion is the way of Jesus, how do we embrace self-compassion and grace?
Here are three ways to offer yourself compassion in your right-now life
- Be gentle with your heart.
- Realize you’re not alone.
- Recognize your hurt.
Go Deeper: How to give yourself compassion even if you think you don’t deserve it
Give yourself grace in a crisis
If you’re walking through a trial, experiencing your life being upended — even if for a short while, or feeling so shaken you’re clutching to hold onto anything stable.
Here are five easy-peasy ways to give yourself grace as you walk through an acutely stressful time:
- Don’t have to diminish your hardship by saying “It could be worse.”
- Remember, when life gets crazy, you don’t have to maintain your same productivity level.
- Don’t beat yourself up about how you felt or what you did (or didn’t do) during your time of hardship.
- Ask for forgiveness.
- Turn over every feeling to God.
Go Deeper: 5 easy ways to give yourself grace in a crisis
Three mindsets to give yourself grace
If you feel like you were created to be a productivity machine, to do work for Jesus, instead of enjoying being His girl, you’ll want to put these three mindsets on repeat:
- I am a rookie.
- I am a human.
- God is trustworthy in all things.
Go Deeper: Three mindsets to live grace in real life
Books about giving yourself grace
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