“Grace That Saves … and Keeps You: Understanding the Gift You Can’t Earn” With Kristel Acevedo, Meredith Brock, and Kaley Olson
40 min
•Jan 20, 20263 months agoSummary
Kristel Acevedo teaches that grace is not just a one-time salvation event but an ongoing force that saves and keeps believers saved through justification, sanctification, and glorification. She emphasizes that spiritual growth comes from understanding identity in Christ first, then acting from that foundation rather than striving through works.
Insights
- Grace operates across three dimensions: justification (saved from penalty of sin), sanctification (being saved from power of sin), and glorification (future salvation from presence of sin)
- Identity precedes action—understanding 'who you are in Christ' must come before determining 'what you do,' reversing the typical achievement-oriented approach
- Spiritual rhythms (Bible reading, prayer, journaling, community worship) are not magical but essential connectors to abiding in Christ and discerning authentic motivation
- Sanctification happens both through intentional spiritual practices and through life's difficult seasons, requiring believers to ask 'What is God doing?' in both contexts
- Sharing grace with others is not optional—personal faith is reignited and strengthened through extending grace to family and community members
Trends
Growing emphasis on spiritual formation and deep theological understanding beyond surface-level Christian knowledgeShift from performance-based Christianity to identity-based faith practice among evangelical audiencesIncreased focus on mental health integration in faith teaching (addressing anxiety, overwhelm, burnout)Women-led biblical teaching gaining prominence in mainstream evangelical ministry platformsDoctoral-level theological education becoming more accessible and relevant to lay ministry contextsIntegration of personal testimony and narrative theology in teaching methodologyEmphasis on slowing down and contemplative practices (journaling, meditation) as counter to hustle cultureMulti-generational faith impact narratives as evidence of grace's transformative power
Topics
Grace theology and soteriologyJustification vs. sanctification doctrineChristian identity in ChristSpiritual disciplines and rhythmsOvercoming shame and guilt in faithEvangelism and faith sharing with familySpiritual formation and progressive holinessWorks vs. grace in Christian livingContemplative prayer practicesTheological education and ministry trainingWomen in biblical teaching rolesGenerational faith transmissionSanctification through life circumstancesMotivation discernment in Christian serviceRest and trust in God's sovereignty
Companies
Proverbs 31 Ministries
Host organization of the podcast; ministry providing biblical encouragement through devotions, teaching, and resources
Transformation Church
Church where Kristel Acevedo serves as discipleship director; mentioned as context for her ministry work
People
Kristel Acevedo
Guest teacher; Bible teacher, writer, discipleship director, and doctoral student discussing grace theology and spiri...
Meredith Brock
Co-host and Kristel's supervisor at Proverbs 31 Ministries; participates in discussion about grace and sanctification
Kaley Olson
Host of the Proverbs 31 Ministries podcast; leads conversation and provides personal reflections on grace teaching
Robert Smith Jr.
Preacher and author cited for theological framework on grace; wrote influential book used in Kristel's doctoral studies
Lisa Turkhurst
Author of 'Come Close to Jesus' prayer book promoted as resource for prayer during anxiety and uncertainty
Quotes
"Grace doesn't just save you, it keeps you saved."
Kristel Acevedo•Opening thesis
"When it comes to grace, one has to drink it straight."
Robert Smith Jr. (cited by Kristel Acevedo)•Mid-teaching
"Grace doesn't just get us into heaven. It gets heaven into us."
Kristel Acevedo (citing her pastor)•Mid-teaching
"I don't have to work for my salvation. I work from my salvation."
Kristel Acevedo•Core teaching point
"Grace doesn't just save you. It keeps you saved and it brings others along in the journey."
Kristel Acevedo•Closing narrative
Full Transcript
Sometimes prayer feels natural, and sometimes it feels like the first thing to slip when life gets heavy. Not because you don't love God, but because your thoughts are racing, your heart is overwhelmed, and you don't even know where to begin. But the beautiful thing about Jesus is that He doesn't ask us to have the perfect words. He just invites us to come close. That's why we're so excited to share Come Close to Jesus, a brand new prayer book from Lisa Turkhurst, created to help you pray when you feel anxious, distracted, or unsure of what to say. And when you give a gift of any amount to Proverbs 31 Ministries, you'll help more women receive biblical encouragement right when they need it most. And as a special thank you, we'll send you a copy of Come Close to Jesus. You can find more information using the link in the show notes below. Now, on to today's episode. Well, hi, friends, and thanks for tuning in to the Proverbs 31 Ministries podcast, where we share biblical truth for any girl in any season. I'm your host, Kaylee Olson, and today I'm here with my friend and my co-host and my boss, Meredith Brock. Well, hey, Kaylee. Hey, Mer. Wow, we just recorded such a powerful episode with our friend Christelle Acevedo. Wow, I'm still kind of reeling from it. She talks all about grace, and I bet if you're listening right now, you're like, I've heard that before. I know so much about Grace. You don't know. You don't know what she teaches today. You don't even know. Yeah. Right. I don't know what that's from. I don't either. It is so powerful and helpful, not in just like, oh, Lord, help me get through this day. It is spiritual formation at the deepest level. And I can't wait for you guys to hear it. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. It's so good. And before we dive in, you'll learn that Christelle, our guest for today is also a contributing member of our encouragement for today devotions. And so I have to share this amazing testimony with our friends listening about how God really is so full of grace and in the details. So here's what one of our devotions readers recently shared with us. She says, for weeks, I have been dealing with chronic fatigue, mental fog, and difficulty with concentration, which led to a breakdown. One morning, I was asking God to show me how to give him my burdens and how to walk in strength. When I opened that day's devotion, it started with the exact verse that had been on my heart. And Meredith, I love that before this woman read that devotion, God directed our writer for that day months in advance to unpack that verse in such a way that helped this specific reader with the struggle that she was facing. I just think that's so cool. And so I wanted to share that with our listeners, because when you give to Proverbs 31 Ministries, you make not only global impact to millions of readers, but also you make a specific impact to the one woman who needs those words the most on that specific day. And so to all of our friends who financially support our ministry, I want to say a huge thank you for making stories like this woman's story possible. And who knows, we might get a testimony in the future because of how God uses this podcast teaching today. So without further delay, let's jump right in. Well, we are so excited to welcome our friend and today's guest, Christelle Acevedo to the show. And this is actually her first time joining us on the P31 podcast. So welcome. We're so excited you're here. Thank you. I'm so, so excited to be here with you guys. Well, since this is her very first time on the show, this is not my first time meeting Christelle. She is a friend of mine, but we did want to introduce her to everybody, all of our listeners. Christelle is a writer and Bible teacher who has such a unique gift for helping women understand the beauty of the gospel in a clear, grounded, and deeply encouraging way. She serves on staff at her church as the discipleship director and is pursuing, guys, wait for it, a doctorate of ministry. That is a huge deal. That's a big deal. Yeah. That's a lot of time and a lot of words. Yeah, that's right. So at Proverbs 31, we're grateful that Christelle is a contributing writer for our free encouragement for today devotions, too. So if you receive those by email or read them on our website, chances are you've read some of her words already. Yeah, and you've read like doctoral level words. I mean, if you read her devotions, you're like instantly smarter than you were before you read them. It's pretty cool. If you listened to last week's episode with Joel, then you might have heard us mention that our focus as a ministry in quarter one of this year is all about stirring up your faith. And so when Christelle and I were connecting via email, going back and forth about coming onto the show, what we wanted to talk about, we explored all sorts of topics. And I don't know, we might need to have her back on because I mean, she's like getting her doctorate and she's learning all the things. So maybe she'll be back. But today we landed on the topic of grace, how it saves us and keeps us saved. And so if your faith needs stirring today, or maybe you're wondering if your grace has run out, then this message is for you. So Christelle, I'm going to turn it over to you to give your teaching. Awesome. Well, first, I just want to say thank you to the Power of 31 team and to everyone listening, because I just love the work that Power of 31 is doing. I'm so grateful to be just a small part of it. And I'm really grateful to be able to share about grace because it sounds very elementary. It sounds like something we all should understand and know about and be able to speak of from a place of confidence. However, in my work at Transformation Church, in my work writing and meeting with people and discipleship, I find that a lot of people don't truly understand grace in a deep, personal way. It's something that we think about intellectually, but we don't really take a hold of it and what it means for us in our everyday lives. And so this is something that I'm super passionate about. And it's a revelation that I've had to come to in my life. And it's one that I come to over and over and over again. I don't think we ever graduate from the concept of grace. And so the one sentence that I want people to remember today, if you remember nothing else, I want you to remember this. Grace doesn't just save you, it keeps you saved. I'm going to read from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, which says, For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is God's gift, not from works so that no one can boast. So it's all about grace. And I actually want to start here. I want to talk about coffee because everyone knows that Jesus and coffee just go together. Okay, we like to read our Bibles and drink coffee. This morning, I was doing that right next to my Christmas tree, which just added to the ambiance, the little twinkling lights. Coffee is holy. Okay, we love coffee. And if you don't like coffee, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe, I don't know, pray about that. But I know that for me, I love coffee, but I like to add a lot of cream and a lot of sugar. I'm from Miami. I'm a Latina. And in Miami, there's a huge Cuban population. I myself am not Cuban, but I have adopted a lot of Cuban things just growing up in Miami. And one of those is Café Bustelo. Café Bustelo is like the top tier coffee that we drink in Miami. And I love it. It's sweet. It's just great. It's just awesome. And I was actually at the grocery store here in South Carolina with my husband. We're walking through the aisles. We get to the coffee section. We're looking through. And they had an iced Café Bustelo coffee in the refrigerator. and I was blown away because I said, wait a minute, we're not in Miami, we're in South Carolina. And what is this beverage? And I've never seen an iced cafe bustelo before. And I'm looking at it and let me just tell you the amount of sugar in this drink, it was just incredible, unheard of. I quickly put it back because as I'm getting older, I'm trying to take my health more seriously. I'm trying to do better. And I said, listen, I love my cafe bustelo. I love the cream and the sugar, but let me just put this back right here because I'm going to go into a sugar coma if I even have a sip of this. So we put it back. But it still is the fact remains that I like to have things in my coffee. My husband, on the other hand, he is a coffee connoisseur, or as I like to say, a coffee snob. Okay. He likes to drink black coffee, just nothing in it, just straight from the pot, just the beans, the water, that's it. Nothing else, just black coffee. And I can't imagine anyone wanting to drink just black coffee with nothing in it. So the other day I asked him, why do you drink black coffee? Because I don't understand who hurt you in life, but it just, it doesn't make sense to me. So help it make sense. And he says that he likes the taste of good coffee, good coffee. And then he says, when you add milk or cream or sugar or syrups, all the, all the, all what I consider the good stuff. He says, when you add that in, it dilutes the flavor of the coffee And he doesn want to taste milk He doesn want to taste cream or sugar or syrups He wants the full flavor of the coffee and all the you know there different coffee beans from different parts of the world and they all have different types of bold flavors. He wants to taste that bold, full flavor of the coffee. And that's how it is with grace. We want the full flavor of grace. We don't want to add in other things as in Ephesians 2 says, you know, not from works so that no one can boast. We don't want to add in our works. We just want the full flavor of the grace. And so the ladies mentioned that I'm doing my doctorate. And one of the books that I had to read was from this man named Robert Smith Jr. He's an incredible preacher man. That book was probably one of my favorite books that I've read so far in my seminary education. And he said this in his book. He says, when it comes to grace, one has to drink it straight. Okay, when it comes to grace, one has to drink it straight. He says, too often in our preaching, we start off with justification by grace. Then after people get saved, we move on to preach sanctification by works. He says, if I'm saved by grace, then I'm sanctified by grace. So really it's grace plus nothing. It's not grace plus my achievements or grace plus my bank account or grace plus my credentials. It's grace plus nothing because we don't want to dilute the full flavor of the grace by adding in other things. I'm gonna go back and and give some more definition to what to what dr. Smith is saying but I want to share a little bit about my story um I started following Jesus as a teenager now I did grow up in a catholic home so I did have some understanding and awareness of who Jesus is and different bible stories but it wasn't really until I was a teenager and a friend of mine from school invited me to her church's youth group. Now I had no concept to what a youth group was. I didn't understand that language. That's not something we had at my Catholic church, but she kept inviting me for about six months straight. And I said, no, I'm good. I'm good. I don't, I don't need to go to that. I'm not, I'm Catholic. I don't need, I don't know what a youth group is, but she was persistent. And finally I said, okay, I will be there. And let me tell you, first, I was blown away by the fact that they had foosball and free pizza and music. And I thought that was just incredible and I loved it. But as I sat through teachings, as I participating in small groups and Bible study, I was blown away by the idea of grace. I could not believe that there was a God who loved me so much that he would give me this gift of salvation, that I didn't have to earn this gift, that he would just give it to me, that I would get to go to heaven when I die because he loves me and he gives me his grace. I was blown away by that and I accepted that gift. But what I didn't grasp right away is that that same grace that initially saves me keeps me saved. I struggled with a lot of guilt and shame. I mean, I was a teenager. I was still doing all kinds of dumb stuff, making bad decisions. And I struggled with guilt. I struggled with shame. I would sit in that church and I prayed the sinner's prayer over and over again, responding to the altar call, saying, Lord, I'm sorry. I messed up again. Save me again. I didn't understand grace in a deep and personal way. And so what I didn't understand then that I now know and have language for is that salvation is not just a one-time event. Going back to what Dr. Smith was saying about justification and sanctification, this is how I like to explain that. First, when it comes to salvation, there's three parts. So the first one is, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. And that's what justification is. That means that we are no longer under the penalty of sin. We now have right standing with God. Think of a courtroom situation and God is the judge and Jesus is your lawyer and the devil's on the other side accusing you. But Jesus says, no, this one's mine. And now we're going to have right standing because I'm taking her place. And God says, cool, we're done. You no longer have to pay that penalty. That's what justification is. We now have right standing, right relationship with God. And that is what people usually think of. That means, yes, we get to go to heaven when we die. And that's what people usually think of when it comes to salvation. So that's, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. The second is, I am being saved from the power of sin. And that's what Dr. Smith referred to as sanctification. This can also be thought of as progressive holiness. That means day by day, we are progressing in our holiness. day by day, we are being conformed into the image of Jesus. We are getting to look more like Jesus with each day that passes. And that happens over a lifetime. Every day as we're learning to say no to sin and say yes to what God has for us, as we're developing spiritual habits, spiritual rhythms of reading the Bible, of prayer, of worshiping in community, in our local churches, in small groups, in Bible studies. We're being saved from the power of sin. We are growing in our holiness. That's sanctification. And that is also a work of grace. It's not that I'm so great because I read my Bible and I pray. It's that God gives me the desire to read God's word. It's God's word. It's God's spirit. It's God's grace in us that helps to conform us into the image of Jesus. And then the third one is what is called glorification. And that's, I will be saved from the presence of sin. And that's what we look forward to. That's what we read about in Revelation, that one day, the new heavens and the new earth will be established and we will be with God forever in our new glorified bodies, the new heavens and the new earth. So justification, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. Sanctification, I am being saved from the power of sin. And glorification, I will be saved from the presence of sin. Three parts to our salvation. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this, This verse tells me who I am. It establishes my identity. So now out of who I am comes what I do. Oftentimes as Christians, especially if you're the kind of person like me who is high capacity, who is a go-getter, who is a high achiever, you want to do things. You're like, give me a formula, give me a task list, man, I will do it. I will punch it out. I got this. But when we read scriptures, when we read the gospels, when we read Paul's letters, they start with, who are you? Your identity is now in Christ. read through Paul's letters and see how often the phrase in Christ is present. And you'll see that it all starts with in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, our identity. So out of who I am, then comes what I do. I don't have to work for my salvation. I work from my salvation. Because I have salvation, I do these things. The Holy Spirit empowers me to live this Christian life. hey friends i'm pausing today's episode because i want to ask you a question have you ever sat down to pray and just felt stuck you want to connect with god you really do but your mind is spinning your emotions feel tangled and the words just won't come at proverbs 31 ministries we believe scripture steps in and gives us the words we need to pray especially when life feels overwhelming. Here's what one listener shared with us recently. I've been walking through one of the hardest seasons of my life and this ministry keeps reminding me that God is still near. Even when I don't know what to pray, I feel like I'm being guided back to him. Friend, that's exactly why we're inviting you to experience Come Close to Jesus, a powerful new prayer book from Lisa Turkhurst filled with scripture-shaped prayers for real life moments. And when you give today, you're helping reach more women who are searching for hope, for truth, and a steady place to land. As our thank you, you'll receive Come Close to Jesus with your gift of any amount. You can find more information using the link in the show notes below Now back to today episode So what does that mean It means that I don have to save myself I don't have to strive or manipulate or earn. I get to rest. Hear me, all of us, all of us listening, we get to rest. I don't have to heal myself. The grace of Jesus heals me. My pastor said recently, He said that grace doesn't just get us into heaven. It gets heaven into us. And I love that because so often we reduce salvation to a trip to heaven after we die. But really what God wants is to get heaven into us here and now. It transforms us. Romans 12, 1 and 2 says that to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And it's God's spirit that does that. It means that I don't have to fight for worth. I am worthy, not because of what I do or don't do, but because of what Jesus has already done. That's what all of that means. Second Corinthians 9, it says, and God is able to make every grace overflow to you so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. So yes, we do good works. It's not that works are completely thrown away. We do good works, but it's an overflow of who we are in Christ. We don't do it for acceptance, but from acceptance. We do good works because that is what grace empowers us to do, because we want to testify to God's goodness. And we want others to know about his love, his mercy, and his grace. And here's what I want to close out with. we should want others to know about God's grace. We don't want to keep it for ourselves. And I remember when, again, when I first became a Christian, when I was a teenager, I was very zealous. I was telling everyone at my high school, I was telling my family, I was telling my friends, man, honestly, it was a little bit too much. I needed to dial it back a little bit because I was very zealous. I was a little bit overwhelming for people. And, you know, it sometimes caused some trouble. And I know that particularly with my family, there was a lot of, man, just bad interactions that ended up happening because I was so young and naive and immature, honestly, very spiritually and emotionally immature. And I said things I probably shouldn't have said. And anyways, all that to say, it just kind of got to be where I didn't want to talk about my faith with my family. I had kind of lost hope that they would even ever come to faith or know Jesus or want to read the Bible or go to church or any of that because it just hadn't boded well in the past. So my fire started to die down and I stopped sharing, to be honest. I just kind of gave up and lost hope. And then, well, when we were still living in Miami, there was a time where I invited my sister and her two kids to come over to the house so that our kids could play together. We each have a boy and a girl. They're around the same age. They get along. They were going to play together at my house and we're going to hang out outside. And my husband was there. So the three of us are hanging out outside. The kids are playing. And this was right before Easter. And my husband invited my sister to Easter service at our church. And I was like, what is this man doing? This is embarrassing. She's going to say no. And what a waste of time. I'll be honest. Listen, this was not my best moment. But he invited her. And to my surprise, she said, yes, I could not believe it. And I said, all right, she's saying yes, but let's see if she really comes. Well, Easter Sunday comes. She comes over to the house so that we can all go together to the church service, to the Easter service at our church. And we ended up sitting in the front row. I'm a front row girly. I get very distracted in the back. So I need to be in the front so I can have my full attention on what's going on. It was a beautiful Easter service. The music was incredible. The pastor gave a beautiful sermon. And at the end of his sermon, he gave an invitation. And he said, if you want to accept this gift from Jesus, raise your hand. Man, I looked over and my sister had raised her hand. I could not believe it. I'm like, she really raised her hand. Well, then the pastor took it one step further and he said, all right, this may be uncomfortable for you, but if you really want this and you want to know more, you want to accept this gift, you want us to walk with you and what it means to live a life of faith in God's family. Not only do I want you to raise your hand, I want you to walk forward, come forward so we can pray for you and give you next steps. She turns to me, my sister, with tears in her eyes. And she says to me, I want to do that. Will you come with me? And I did. I was, what could I say? I said, let's go. We go to the front. We answer the altar call. She receives Jesus as her savior. And then, you know, she does all the things. She fills out the connection card. Some months later, she got baptized. I remember her son got baptized. not long after that. And then even this year, I mean, this was years ago, maybe eight, nine, 10 years ago. And then this year, her daughter got baptized and they're still going to that same church. They're still worshiping every Sunday and serving and growing in their faith. And it's all because my husband did not want to keep the gift of grace to himself. He wanted to share it with her. And now it has changed her life. It has changed the life of her family. And honestly, it reignited my commitment to want to share my faith and to not give up hope for people in our lives who are in need of God's grace. It challenged me. It strengthened my faith. And it reminded me that I cannot hoard grace for myself, that I need to share it with others. And so grace is that powerful. Grace doesn't just save you. It keeps you saved and it brings others along in the journey. Wow. Christelle, I like multiple times throughout your teaching, I was ready to jump up and take a lap around the building. And then just to see the beautiful, hear the beautiful story of your sister receiving that grace. goodness, I could just sit here and cry because what a... God, in His grace, He didn't give up on her. Oh my gosh. We need to remember that. Yes. Wow. So, I don't know, just encouraging to my heart as I think about some of my own family members, you know, that the Lord is still pursuing them and that it is not over yet. And so, but I need to keep shoveling that grace in their direction. I know. Yeah. You know, it's real. It's real. Yeah. And not not lose hope there. And so thank you for that teaching and for that story. I think the part that arrested me the most is when you started talking about we're not grace isn't just for our salvation, but for our sanctification. and I like you I'm like a get it done kind of gal yeah you know like give me a list and we are gonna knock it out fam like this is what we're gonna do and I to my own um I don't know shame embarrassment whatever you want to call it um have a whole lot of faith in my capabilities yeah you know and have a whole lot of like I can I I can make it happen like watch me now. And you probably could, but then who gets the glory? Amen, sister. But also, I would say not only who gets the glory, but also, holy cow, just sit down with me for 30 minutes and I'll tell you how this last year has brought me to my knees, to the absolute end of myself, to where it was like, I actually can't, Lord, like I can't, like I can't do that. You know, I'm done. I'm empty. I am out of gas. And so to know when you said our sanctification, which is the changing of us, guys, okay, sanctification is the process. I want you to think about that thing that you're like, gosh, I wish I would stop doing that. that sanctification moves into that place. And that is the process of changing that thing that you're like, gosh, I wish I would stop doing that, you know? And that for me for so many years, and even now, y'all, I do not even want to like say I have got this mastered. Not even close. I think it'll take the rest of my life when Jesus brings me home. I think that's the point. That is the point. Right. Absolutely. The thought that who I am which is the daughter of the king comes out of who I am comes what I do Not what I do. And then we kind of work out this identity thing, like get the stuff done. And then you're going to work out like you're going to understand that. No, no, no, no, no, no. It comes from that place of knowing I am the daughter of the king and he, by his grace, is changing me. And so I can rest, like you said, Christelle. And so I have a question for you because this is something that I have wrestled with maybe in the past and currently. So speak to your sister. But how do I know if I'm doing whatever works, fill in the blank, you know, on the outside? How do I know if what I'm doing, if I'm doing it for the acceptance of Jesus's love of my like, okay, you're doing a good job, girl, you know, or from the overflow of the grace that you talked about? How do I know the difference when I'm in that proper posture, you know, of, does that make sense? I feel like that's kind of an messy question. Okay. Help me understand. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think you might not realize it right away. I'll say that much. Sometimes you might be operating in, in that mindset of, you know, pulling yourself up from your bootstraps without even realizing it. Um, and that's why I think it's important to slow down. I think we live in a society that moves entirely too fast and, um, at a frenetic speed and we need to slow down and take inventory of our inner world, you know, of our thoughts, our emotions, whatever that looks like for you. For me, I am a journaler. So that helps me to slow down because, and I handwrite, you know, like it takes, it takes a long time to handwrite when you're used to typing on a phone or on a laptop. And I journal and I, and I ask God like, okay, bring up in me, like what, what is going on inside of me? Bring it to, bring it up so that I can recognize it. Help me to prune the things that are not of you, that are striving or self-salvation or any of that. Prune that and fill me with your spirit. I don't know that there's a formula to it necessarily, but I think day by day as we turn up the volume of God's voice in our lives and learn to rely on the Holy Spirit's leading, which is often a still small voice, then we're going to be operating from the overflow. I think also something that I'm super passionate about is listen, I'm a busy girl and a lot of us are busy we got a lot of stuff going on and I get it I got teenagers I work full time I'm in school right now I have a lot but if I'm ever too busy to participate in spiritual rhythms that are going to help me stay connected to abide in Christ then there's a problem there and I mean even this morning you guys I was like, okay, I got this podcast. I need to prepare. Let me go over my outline again. And I was like, wait, I have not spent time in God's word this morning. Let me slow down. Let me open my Bible. Let me read God's word and allow it to fill me up before I pour out in this environment. So I think we need to ensure that we slow down our lives a little, that we make time for spiritual rhythms. not because the spiritual rhythms hold the magic, but because the spiritual rhythms help us to abide in Christ, which is the power, where the real power is. That's so good, Christelle. You know what I'm hearing when you're saying this? Oh, so you mean I have to stop doing this stuff in order to hear if I'm doing this stuff from the right place, like from the right posture? And even doing that alone is an act of faith, you guys. even stopping enough to say, Lord, where's my heart in this? Is an act of faith instead of just being like, I just got to get it done. I got the list is long. The day is short. Yeah. I think that's like the tension of grace is that it does save you and it does keep you safe. It doesn't mean that you can like flippantly just keep doing whatever Meredith wants to do or keep doing whatever Kaylee or Christelle wants to do. I think something that was kind of a light bulb moment for me, Christelle, just a minute ago was whenever you said, if I don't have time to actually slow down and participate in the spiritual rhythms, I thought, oh, there are things that we can do. And there is a level, there is a huge level of self-involvement, but it's not necessarily like, okay, God, I got it from here. It's not a baton race. I think one of the things that we can practice is self-control. That's what we have control over. And God, like in his grace, he like extends that to us. We're not puppets who walk around and just do whatever he wants us to do. The level of participation is us being willing to submit to the process. And I think what you've talked about today is that it kind of happens in two camps. It happens in the spiritual rhythms, but then it happens in the sanctifying moments. Like for Meredith, that's your season. Well, there's a lot of things happening right now. It's not just that season you're talking about. Motherhood is all the things. But Christelle, one of the things that I was thinking about was, you know, if you grew up in church, you might hear someone older than you talk about motherhood this way. Motherhood is sanctifying. And whenever I had a baby the first time, I was like, oh, yeah, poopy diapers are disgusting. This sure is sanctifying, wiping another human's butt. Now that I have a toddler, I'm like, oh, no, the sanctification is my response and my heart. Oh, oh, this is what it means. This is what it means to lean into sanctification and growth. And this is how God is like God is using that three and a half year old who looks me in the eyes and does exactly what I say not to do to teach me a whole lot about myself. Oh gosh. And I think that it is not just motherhood. I think though, I think like we could rattle off a whole lot of things that come through. It's the girl that sits next to you at work. It's the car that's driving too slow. I like all of my coworkers. I don't know what you're talking about. Of course. No, it's not. It's not Meredith. It's little things like that. But I think if we could, I mean, you kind of mentioned it a minute ago, Meredith, or no, Christelle, you did. Whenever you said, I sit down and I ask like, God, what are you doing right now? I think that that type of question is for those really hard seasons. Sanctification isn't just, let me read my Bible and become a better Christian. I think you get more out of reading your Bible whenever you're in that. Like I'm in the middle of a separation right now. God, what are you doing? How might you be using this? I'm in the middle of a diagnosis right now. God, what I'm in the middle of like change plan. God, how is this sanctification and how is this grace? Cause it doesn't look a lot like grace, but what's the fruit that I might be seeing in it? Can you show me a glimpse of it? Like, can you show me how you might be using it? I think that that's what you're talking about. That's good. Right now. Wow. So good. Good. I wish we could keep talking about this over a nice cup of steaming black coffee. Straight. Because that's how I take my coffee. I'll bring the creamer. I was like, Crystal, I think that your husband and I would get along really well. I'm a coffee shop myself, but we are so grateful for what you shared with us today. It's a gift to have you with us. And I know our listeners are going to walk away with a clearer and more hope-filled understanding of God's grace because of what we talked about today. And before we close, I want to make sure our listeners know where they can hear more from you. And so you guys, Christelle shares incredible biblical insights, encouragement, and thoughtful teaching on her Instagram account. We'll link it below. But if you're driving, it's at Christelle Ace and on her website, ChristelleAcebedo.com. We've linked both of those in the show notes below. And I promise you, they are worth following. And while we're talking about helpful resources, Kaylee, I also want to encourage you to check out Christelle's Bible study, Away in the Wilderness. It's a beautiful look at how God meets us. He leads us and sustains us even in the driest and most confusing seasons. If today's message resonated with you, this study will be such a helpful next step for you. I also wanted to give a quick little shout out to our encouragement for today devotions here at Proverbs 31. We talked about it. Christelle's a contributor there. And if you are a gal who, when you open up your inbox and you're just like, whoa, there's a lot of discouragement up in here. Maybe you're getting emails from your kids' teachers or from coworkers or I don't know. Yeah. And you just could use some encouragement in your inbox that is quick and biblically sound and insightful. I want to encourage you, go over to Proverbs31.org, hit that subscribe button, and you can subscribe to get them every day of the week for absolute free. That's all we have for today, friends. At Proverbs 31 Ministries, we believe when you know the truth and live the truth, it really does change everything. Thank you.