Getting Grace

Coming back home after this holiday season I was struck with just how very different this homecoming was compared to the one 365 days prior. Then I was dog tired, emotionally spent, and sick as could be. Now I am well-rested, have many more emotional tools in my toolbox, and am healthy as a clam. Then I had just returned from India. Now I’ve just returned from South Carolina. Then I kind-of ate a Thanksgiving veggie burger in a hotel room in New Delhi, watching the news in horror as the hotel I was slated for next was under siege by terror. Now I ate a for-real Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing and dressing with family and friends, watching each other just be comfortable in our own skin. Then I learned about being loved through fear. Now I learned about being loved through little moments. Then and now and seemingly worlds apart. But the more I think about it, the more I realize they are alike. God’s provision exists in both circumstances. In both joy and defeat, freedom and captivity, God is there. And that’s because God isn’t a God of our situations-He is a God of presence. Rest in that tonight sweet friends.