These Grace Gifts

Well, I guess you could say I’ve succumbed to a once-a-year blog post if even that. Life has a way of keeping things busy and I have a way of avoiding the things that deep down in my heart I sometimes really want to do….Writing is one of those things and it doesn’t always come easy. Nonetheless, there has been a thought in my heart to share for sometime. It’s just now, on a quiet Sunday, that I finally gave in to writing it down. I suppose this particular post is just as much for me as it is for you.

I recently began taking pictures of certain moments in life that catch my eye, the ordinary ones that fill a heart with hope. Call them grace gifts- they’re unexpected, never earned, desperately needed, and always given at the perfect time. And yes, they have sometimes brought a tear to the eye. I quickly pull out my phone to capture a moment in which I realize that the God I serve sees, and He knows, and He cares, and He responds. It’s an overwhelming thought for someone like myself but I so desperately need the reminder that Jesus is faithful and so kind.

Worry fades in the act of thanks. So let this simply be a moment of thankfulness and a knowing that if any heart might feel overwhelmed, it has been welcomed with open arms by the God of all grace.

You see, I’ve found that sometimes God sends light seeping through a kitchen window that bathes the counter and the walls with golden hues, or He sometimes brings friends together who remind each other of what is true and good. He even gives His very words found in the Scriptures that lay right now on my couch beside me. He sends all of this and more into my ordinary days….It’s enough to make a heart braver. It’s enough to make my own ache of seeing Jesus face to face grow stronger. It’s enough of a whisper that reminds me once again, I stand on the brink of eternity. Life is brief. His glory is lasting. And sometimes He lets us catch a glimpse of it in the most ordinary ways.

This is nothing more than a few snapshots that I place here. These are the grace gifts that stopped me in the middle of doing dishes, in the middle of preparation, and at the end of a long day. In a world that feels so overwhelming, frightful, and wearying it’s easy for our hearts to wake heavy and our minds to panic. But in this process of thanking God for His gifts, He so kindly gives another-His peace-one that surpasses all understanding, and one the world can never give. I pray you too, Friend, are met with that same peace this coming week.