Our own story of sufficient grace….

Not a tear is wasted
In time, you’ll understand
I’m painting beauty with the ashes
Your life is in My hands
when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away
You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your worlds not falling apart, its falling into place
I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held
Just be held, just be held. -Casting Crowns

The past…took me by surprise a few weeks ago.     I ran into an old friend….more than that though….the first person I ever felt safe with.  It was a chance meeting that only God could design.   It had been months since I had seen her….our relationship had been strained….it wasn’t what we wanted….it’s just how things turned out.

We had grown apart.    Even though that period of time was difficult….it probably needed to happen.  God wanted me to move in a different direction….one that I was reluctant to embrace.   I appreciated the comfort in the old direction…..it was safe.  My friends from that life era were safe….they were true….they could be trusted….and the new era had unknown challenges….unfamiliar people.    It was scary….God knew I needed a push….out of my comfortable nest….distancing me from my tried and true comrades.

To be honest….there had been some things said that ended up bringing hurt….no one really meant for that to happen….it just was a bi-product of the distance between two people who used to be very close. That night after meeting by chance….God allowed fences to be mended…..a relationship to begin being restored….but it was awkward. A couple weeks later, I ran into her again….another by chance meeting…..God brought us together again. This time things seemed more natural….more comfortable.

Last month was probably one of the hardest months of my life….family and other issues that literally ripped my heart up. Nothing in my life felt stable….and I struggled to not fall apart emotionally most of the time. I was hurting…..and Jesus held me….He reminded me many times to “just be held”…..my circle of friends reminded me of His Truth many times a day.

It was during that time….that my old friend reminded me of truth my other friends couldn’t……my truth. She reminded me of the times when I had walked through tough things. She reminded me of a day when I was an emotional mess….struggling with marriage issues…and some hurts from my past….and I had said I couldn’t take anymore hurt….any more pain….and then my mom unexpectedly died two days later…..and there was more hurt….much more.
But I got through it. She reminded me that I put myself in the arms of Christ….and He carried me through. She reminded me of my truth of His faithfulness to me….in a way that only she was able to do.
God put her back in my life….at just the right time. Sometimes in order to keep moving forward….we need to look back….we need to remember what the Lord has walked us through….how His grace was sufficient then and that it will be just as sufficient now. That He holds us together when it feels like life is falling apart. We each have our own truth….of His Truth….our own story of sufficient grace. Thank You Jesus!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 9-10