“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness…”
John 1:14, 16 CSB
Grace Upon Grace: The Background
Years ago, I started Grace Upon Grace as a custom-order crocheted stuffed animal Etsy shop. Didn’t know that was even a thing? Yes! Take a minute and do a search for “amigurumi.” I took orders from friends to begin with, then opened up to the public on Etsy and took orders from customers there.
I participated in some vendor events, as well. Some were more successful than others. I learned a bit about business through those experiences, though, and I’m thankful for everyone that was willing to buy my products.
Following the birth of our third child, I realized that a custom-order business might not be the best for me. I felt as though my turn-around time from “order placed” to “order delivered” was too long, which seemed unfair to my customers. From there, I shifted from Grace Upon Grace to Graceful Knot Crochet, where I created a couple crochet patterns. I wrote up, published, and have since sold several copies of one of those patterns. Pattern-writing is time-consuming, and postpartum with an infant probably was not the best time to try to make that shift!
Grace Upon Grace: The Return
I have always loved to write. Even as a child, I was filling notebooks and journals with little stories. I signed my name inside of all of my books, probably practicing for the day I would become famous and be constantly bombarded with requests for my autograph!
To that end, I have attempted blogging before. Again though, I wasn’t in the right headspace/life stage to consistently work on it. (Have I mentioned trying to work with littles running around? You know how that goes!)
My goal here on Grace Upon Grace is to combine the things that I love to share with those in an online community. I want to share Jesus with all of you as I also share my love for God and homeschooling, with a dose of crafting and creating mixed in for good measure! If my interests line up with yours, I hope you’ll stick around. I would love to create a place here where we can share ideas, encourage, and support each other!
Grace Upon Grace: The Meaning
When I was first creating my custom-order crochet business, the name “Grace Upon Grace” came to me. I knew that I wanted my business to be faith-based, or at the very least I wanted it to reference my beliefs. I see now that it was God who laid that name upon my heart. His grace, and his grace alone, is what carried me through that time in my life.
What most people didn’t know about me at that time was that I was dealing with some pretty serious postpartum depression and anxiety. We were struggling: living away from family with two little girls while also dealing with the stress of a first job in ministry.
In a worldly sense, grace is how one carries oneself. A sense of ease, coordination – picture a person simply gliding along seamlessly in life. In that sense, I am not a graceful person. Not even a little bit. The bruises on my shins and knees speak for themselves!
What I have experienced time after time after time is God’s grace. His undeserved favor, his gift of love that I couldn’t begin to earn but that’s given freely anyway.
To me, “grace upon grace” speaks of the unlimited love and blessing of God. God is full of grace and truth, according to John in his gospel. What better blessing could be received than a blessing from the one who is full of true grace and love? Blessing upon blessing, grace upon grace, forgiveness upon forgiveness, love upon love – a pressed down, shaken together, running over kind of heap of blessings.
What about you?
Tell me in the comments: how have you experienced God’s grace in your life? In what ways have you seen him working?