One of the things I love about blogging is connecting with other Christian bloggers and authors. It is awesome to connect with others who share your goals and seek encouragement.
On this list of awesome people I’ve “met” is Ashleigh Rich. She originally asked just for feedback on her eBook, but I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to actually take the time to write a review and highlight this fantastic author and blogger.
Book Review
Overall, I thought this book was an awesome, accessible resource on a complex topic.
What I loved most about this book was how passionate Ashleigh was on this topic. You can tell she really put her heart into it and made this a personal project that many Christians could benefit from.
I also felt that this book was well-organized. She made the goals for each week clear, and she even left room for missing a day or two (something I’ve definitely needed when trying to work through a devotional). The topic selection was solid, and her reflections were thoughtful. I appreciated that she pulled from both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
There were a few things that read off to me as a Catholic reader. Though nothing was outright wrong, it could be misinterpreted. These were minor details, and I think a decently-catechized Catholic would be able to move past these points without confusion. Ashleigh also acknowledges that some of the commentaries are her own thoughts, and she leaves room for disagreement.
I would definitely recommend this engaging, informative, and spiritually fruitful devotional to any Christian who needs a crash course on understanding grace. You can learn how you can get the book (and get some sweet discounts) at the end of this post.
Interview
Ashleigh is a writer, blogger, wife, and dog mom who lives in the Portland, Oregon area. Her blog is focused on authentically living out the Christian Life, particularly when it comes to relationships (with people and God). You can find her at her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. 
1) How would you define grace?
Grace is getting something good that you don’t deserve. The biggest “grace giver” is God who gives us all good things, even though we often don’t deserve them, but people can be “grace givers” too.
2) What misunderstandings did you have about God’s grace, and what helped you learn the truth?
I think for the longest time, I equated grace with heaven. I knew we didn’t deserve to get into heaven, but that God gracefully allows us in anyway through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus. That was pretty much where my understanding of grace ended. Everything else I thought was based on my behavior. I’m not really sure where that idea came from. I’m a very high justice person naturally (I’m a high J on the Myers-Brigs test), so I think I just translated that desire for justice over to my faith life.
The big turning point came for me when I received something good from God that I knew I didn’t deserve. I had a year or two where I still believed in God, but I was rebelling against him because I didn’t believe he actually loved me. This idea was mostly formed because I had desired a romantic relationship for a long time and at 22 was still very single and had never even been asked out or anything. I had no hope in the relationship department, despite reading every book I could find on the subject and trying to do everything right.
I was in a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) group at the time and we were studying the book of Acts and a bunch of Paul’s letters. The idea of grace kept coming up and I realized I didn’t really know what that meant. I felt like I had never experienced it. I started praying that God would grant me grace and display his love to me that way. He answered that prayer by giving me a relationship in the midst of my rebellion. I knew that I didn’t deserve it, and yet here it was. This was grace!
Because of this experience, I become really interested in the subject. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Seminary, and it seemed like the subject of grace just kept coming up. I read a lot on the topic, which served to strengthen my real life experience of it. It also helped me to see how to extend the grace shown to me to those around me.
3) Why do you think it is important for Christians to understand what grace is?
There are two huge reasons why it’s important for us to understand the concept of grace. One is that if you don’t understand grace well, it’s going to limit your love for God. If you don’t see how much God risks by offering us grace, you fail to see how much God really loves you. Additionally, I think without truly understanding grace, there’s a part of you that’s always going to be striving to please God to earn his favor. This shows us subtlety sometimes, but this idea is a great tool of the Enemy’s to make us trust in our own efforts and not in what God has graciously done for us.
The second thing is that if we don’t understand grace well, we have a tendency as Christians to be really judgmental. Think about, the whole premise of Christianity is that we are God’s chosen people and we alone know the truth. That’s a perfect recipe for judgment and pride if we don’t remember that this isn’t because of anything we did, it’s all based on what God has done, completely separate from anything we’ve done or not done. Yes, we are chosen and yes, we know the truth, but it’s not because we are superior. It’s simply because of what God has done for us and how he has been at work in our lives.
4) What inspired you to write this book?
After my own discovery of grace, I was totally blown away by how much I had been missing all of those years. I, who had been raised in a Christian home (with a Pastor for a dad for part of my life), who had grown up going to church whenever the doors were open, who had gone to a premier Christian college, I had missed this simple concept and it had totally skewed my relationship with God. I wanted to make sure that others didn’t have to go through the long journey I did to recognize the power and the importance of grace.
5) If readers only take one thing away from your book, what would you hope that the one thing would be?
The idea that grace isn’t based on you. There’s nothing you can do that would make God love you more, and there’s nothing you can do that will make God love you less. You’ve never sinned too much to be able to experience God’s good things, and you can never do enough for God to earn those things. Every good and perfect gift from God is just that, a gift. It’s God’s decision when and if he gives us particular gifts and his decision is not dependent on what we’ve done for him. That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to do the things that please God. We should, but not because it earns us anything. It’s simply a way we can display our love for God and the way he uses to make us more like His Son. Grace reminds us of where our motives should be, not on trying to earn things but simply trying to love God and others well.
Get the Book!
You can purchase the book here.
My readers can get a 10% discount by entering the code STSBlog, or you can get a 20% discount for sharing the book on social media?
Not sure if this book would be right for you? Ashleigh has generously shared the first week of her devotional for free when you fill out this sign-up form.