Look For the Grace

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:16 ESV)

"Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort, perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life?" -Ann VosKamp "One Thousand Gifts Bible Study Guide"

In my last devotion, I talked about "hard eucharisteo" and my belief that those things that cause us hurt do not come from the hand of God, but that He works in and through them.  The way we see God acting in those times is through moments of grace.

One situation that was hard for me was shortly after the attack on the Twin Towers.  Since Richard was a reservist, I knew it was only  a matter of time before he was called to active duty.  This really was very difficult for me.  I had boys in middle school and just beginning high school at the time.  How could I finish the job of raising them without Richard?  But there was grace after grace.  Richard wasn't called away until after Daniel got his driver's license.  This was a big help to me.  Richard was between deployments when it was time to move Daniel to a college dorm room.  He was home when Daniel "suprised" us with the news of his becoming a father.  And more grace... technology that made frequent communication easy.... a quick rise in rank to help us out of a life of financial struggle... and many more things.

Another situation was the unexpected death of my mother.  It was an emotional time for me and my 3 sisters and my brother.  But we found the grace, beautiful and even miraculous... a very real gift from God in a song that was very reminiscent of our mom that played again and again at the most appropriate times and in unexpected ways.  It was so comforting and let us know that God was right there with us and had it all under control.

When the hard things in life hit... and they will... look for the grace.  It will be all around you, but you won't notice it unless you look.

Father,

Thank you for the many moments of grace in the hard times of life that make us able to give that "hard eucharisteo."  Amen.