God’s Grace

I will be honest that these past few months were very difficult for us, especially the month of June.  June and July were a busy season for us.  We knew that would be the case and we went into it running full force praying for the strength to make it through.  However early on in June we hit a wall and fell back.  You see much like Peter who was walking on the water, we took our eyes off the source and suddenly the wind and the waves around us seemed like more than we could handle.  Once knocked down we struggled to know how to pick ourselves back up to press on.  God was faithful through it all, but we were not.  We had started to rely on our own strength to press on and then we quickly realized we were in way over our heads.  For a few days we were paralyzed not sure what to do and not sure how to pick up the pieces.  Yet in God’s grace he came and picked us back up.  We were broken and we were bruised, but we were his and he became our strength as we pressed on through the weeks and months ahead.  Sometimes I look back and say how did we make it through in the state we were in?  Well it was all God!  Yet again he proves himself faithful!

This past week was our first down time in the past few months.  We took the week to seek God.  To seek healing.  To look back and see the mistakes we had made and to hopefully learn from it for the future.  We considered how to balance better the load we carry, but mostly realized our need to remain plugged into the source.  Our ministry calls us out of the boat so often and we see now that it just takes one moment of taking our eyes off Christ to start sinking.  It has been a week of healing and a week of renewal in our walk with God.  I am so thankful for his grace and faithfulness that carries us through despite our weakness.

The beauty to me is thinking about what is ahead.  18 months ago God gave us a gift of a trip away with Joel’s family.  A trip that will take us to the Mediterranean Coast for 2 weeks.  We leave for that on Wednesday.  We have 2 weeks of vacation, away from our ministry with family.  It was a trip designed to bring our family together, as it has been 9 years since we have been all together, but God knew how much we would need this break.  God knew long ago that we would need this time to be renewed and refreshed.  I am overwhelmed when I think about his goodness, his grace and his timing.

So as we leave my prayer is that this time would be a breathe of fresh air as well as a great time reconnecting with family.  I pray we will use this time to refocus on God and that we would return better equipped to keep our eyes on him even when the wind and waves rise around us.