An Ebenezer of Grace

My refrain month after month “a hard, difficult, pressing year.” A truth so embedded in my mind, in my vocabulary, that it’s become the sole way I think about this life I’m living.

I should know better. I teach words — how to think them, write them, love them, live them. How to use them for the best means and the best outcome.

Is hard how I really want to memorialize this year? What if instead I etch in my mind that this was a remarkable year of extraordinary grace?

I cannot diminish the soul ache that we, in some ways, still walk in. But I need that next healing step, that reminder that grace has been my constant companion, that transformation has begun, that all is well with my soul.

Some heart breaks will never be righted this side of eternity, but we can pronounce the Savior’s redemption over all that may have been intended for lesser purposes.

To grow and stretch beyond this box of sadness, to push the boundaries of the self-pity that has become too comfortable. To shed the robe of sorrow and seek shelter in His joy. To find more comfort in God than in my own grief.

So here I place my ebenezer, the reminder that more than difficult, this year of change and diagnosis and loss, has been one of  remarkable, extraordinary grace. For here I stand, alive and well, changed and transforming, tested and proved, stronger and more faith-filled.

But in all that is hard – there is the possibility of blessing. The goal of noble living is to gather new virtue and grace, from all life’s struggles, cares, and sorrows.                                     ~JR Miller 

 

Advertisement