Welcome!

/ Sara Lynn Payne

UG Beach Background

Thank you for joining me on my new site!  I’m beyond excited about having an official home on the web now!

Since this is a new site, I decided that it was time for a new name: Uncommon Grace.  As I’ve been writing for the past few years, my old blog has morphed and transitioned through several formats and titles to the point that I felt like I was just pulling at strings in order to tie everything together.  As those who know me understand, I’m an extremely intentional person so this has just driven me crazy!  For this new site, I can be intentional again.

Uncommon Grace.

If nothing else, grace has marked my life.  My story is a story of grace; from my past to my future, it is the path I tread.  Through a journey of chronic illness and pain, God has shaped me and refined me, blessed me even.  He has been unbelievably faithful.

Grace is anything but common.  In our “earn it” kind of society, the idea of a completely free gift is met with complete skepticism.  But, that is not how Jesus works.  The God of our world gave His precious Son, Jesus Christ to pay for our sins through His death in a profoundly terrible way on the cross.  Most people won’t give of their excess; Jesus gave His life.  Uncommon.

This uncommon grace needs to mark all of our lives if we choose to follow Christ.  Grace wasn’t cheap for Him to give so we shouldn’t live as if it was.

God wants to be the Hero of our story, if we let Him through accepting this profound, uncommon grace.  That is what this blog is about: seeing God and letting Him work in our lives.  Every aspect.  Whether with laughter (if you’ve read my older posts, you know there is a lot of that!) or tears, with joy or even when feeling hopeless, He is there working.  We are privileged to have the opportunity to lead an uncommon kind of life.  That is, if we are willing to risk it.  I’m willing, are you?

As this is our new official home, I have transferred some of the best and most liked content over to make it as accessible and continuative as possible.  Please take a look and if there is a post that you previously found valuable that I haven’t included, let me know and I’ll repost it here.  I’m not shutting down the old site; it will have links to this page though.

Please follow this page and sign up for emails for when new posts come up.  I would really appreciate it since it will make it a whole lot easier as I work to get this new site off the ground!  As it is with any new site launch, it takes a lot of effort to become established and I would love to make it as easy as possible for everyone who has followed me!  As always, I love comments and will respond back; feedback is really helpful and I love the community that comes from discussion about topics!

So, please join me in walking in Uncommon Grace!

12 thoughts on “Welcome!”

  1. I poked around a little on this site to get to know you, S.L., and I’m so glad I did. What a gentle, thoughtful way you communicate. And I love the simple, spacious feel of this place.

    Thank you for linking with Unforced Rhythms. I look forward to hearing from you often.

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    • Kelli, you are so sweet! I really appreciate your encouragement and I’m so happy I found Unforced Rhythms! It is so fun and I’m looking forward to spending more time there and getting to know you too!

      I’m so glad that you like the look of the blog- simple and spacious was exactly what I was going for! With all the chaos in life going on, I thought that is what I needed and hopefully everyone else too!

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  2. love the look of your new site, the beach photo caught my attention first since Im a So Cal girl myself, but i wish i lived in the south. so we’ll have to catch up and chat on what you miss about being here and what i think I’m missing there. i love that you write about grace, i do the same, another reason for our kindred hearts. Im learning how God uses my brokenness and gives a platform, a voice to share about His grace and redemption. glad God brought me to the link up this morning.

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    • Hi Teresa, So great to meet another SoCal girl! Where are you from? I grew up in Northern Orange County. The beach is actually Corona Del Mar from one of the last times I visited! I would seriously love to chat! I miss Mexican food (premade taco shells do not count as real tacos), but there is a lot here I love too. It is so fun to hear what you write about too- we definitely are kindreds 🙂 I’m so glad that you came!

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