All is Grace

" What in all this world is grace?

I can say it certain now: All is grace.

I see through the woods of the world:

God is always good and I am always loved.

God is always good and I am always loved.

~~ 1000 Gifts, Ann Voskamp ~~

This week has been a week of announcements and notices.
One friend pregnant: eight years between first and second born
One family member pregnant with #7.
One about to give birth to #6.
Another friend approaches her due date...a first born, a  daughter eagerly anticipated.

This week I received notification of the death of a friend.
The terminal illness of the mother of another friend.
A premature precious baby Sarah struggles to fight another infection in the neonatal ICU.

This week I struggled with chronic pain, sinus and cough and fever.
I have wrestled with insomnia...
It seems as if all my shortcomings and weaknesses have battered me all week....
Blessed or cursed?

My car needs a new...ummm ..everything...from a windshield wiper motor to new gear box and a belt is squealing somewhere...loudly and painfully.
 Gas prices soared.
Grocery prices have increased substantially.
A lady I never met..but who was cared for by my mother died at 85 years of age this week after a long drawn out battle with cancer.
Japan was hit by another quake.
Bow Island, Alberta is flooding.

"...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

Really?
Can I take the pain...the sorrow..the bewilderment... give thanks for it...and find it transformed?
Into Joy?
Is there a peace to be found in the midst of the horror, the struggle...the loss, the failure?
Peace that surpasses understanding ?
Cause I really don't understand.

Can I give thanks at all times..in all things: because HE is ALWAYS good?

Gratitude.Today. Now.

He makes all things new.
HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW.
ALL.THINGS.NEW.

Yes!

Grief is always transformed.
Suffering transmuted.
The ugly transfigured.


The Word of God..which sustains.. which holds all things together..is sharp...like the surgeons knife..
Dividing...
d i v i d i n g
between flesh and spirit.
joints and marrow.

God speaks.
It is as he says.
It is written...

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect

in weakness."

2 Cor 12:9

Sufficient. Grace.

Enough.
For everything...
Every.Thing.

Eyes washed.
Sight to the blind.
To me.
I must see.
He is in ALL.
He is ALL good.

Yesterday, today and forever...amen and amen.