Hi friend,

Welcome back to She Speaks Life.
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how grace meets us in our weariness, not after we’ve rested, not once we’ve “gotten it together,” but right there in the middle of the tiredness.

We’re taught to treat exhaustion like failure. If I were stronger, I wouldn’t feel like this. If I had more faith, I wouldn’t feel drained. If I were disciplined enough, I wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

But biblically, that’s not how grace works.

Grace is not what God gives you once you’ve reached the standard. Grace is the reality that there was never a moment you were carrying yourself alone.

In theology, grace is described not just as God’s kindness toward us, but God’s active work within us. That means grace isn’t passive. It’s not God standing at a distance saying “you’ll be okay.” It’s His presence, in the ache, now.

The early church often wrote about something called prevenient grace, grace that goes before you. Grace that is already at work in places you haven’t fixed, healed, or even named yet. Grace that meets you before you ask for it “properly.”

Which means:
– When your prayers are just a sigh, grace is already interceding.
– When you feel numb instead of “on fire for God,” grace has not left you.
– When you’re just surviving the day, grace is not disappointed in you. Grace is holding you up.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is stop performing strength long enough to receive the strength that’s offered.

I want you to hear this with gentleness:
God is not waiting for you to become less tired before He comes close.
He comes close because you are tired.

✦ ✦ ✦

Speak Life Practice

This week, when you feel yourself slipping into “I should be doing more,” pause and say this out loud:

“I am allowed to be carried. I am not God.”

That’s not laziness. That’s correct theology.

✦ ✦ ✦

A Final Note

If all you managed today was to breathe, be honest, and not give up, heaven is not unimpressed.

Grace is not a reward for the strong.
Grace is the nearness of Christ to the weary.

You are loved here, not once you’re “better.”

With grace,

P.S. Next week, we will be exploring how faith forms us, slowly, quietly, and beautifully, even when we don’t notice it happening.