Remembering our dear Grace, who would be turning 13 this year. ❤️
During our morning devotions today, our friend Jeff shared some words from Tony Evans about trials. It seemed very fitting for this day.
Trails can come from a number of directions. Sometimes God sends you a trial to teach you a specific lesson. At other times, it comes simply because you live in a sin-cursed world, and the curse rubs off on you. So you become the victim of a crime or accident or illness that crashes into your life. Sometimes trials are the result of your own sin. You yield to a temptation that leads to a set of circumstances that are tough to deal with. And don’t forget that the enemy can attack you with trials for the purpose of bringing about your spiritual defeat. So my concern is not so much the source of your trials, but what you do when they show up. How you respond to cataclysmic circumstances has a lot to do with what shape you’re in when you come out on the other side. (emphasis mine) The good news is, you’re not out there alone, because no matter what the source of your trial is, God has the situation well in hand. He can work out His purposes.
When you are going through a tragedy, you can either choose to run from God or towards Him. My whole life, I had been taught to trust God even when I don’t understand – that He is loving and good, always. So when tragedy struck our family and we lost our little Grace, I ran to Him. And that has made all the difference. I don’t know why we had to go through it, and I’m not sure it even matters, but I know beyond a doubt that God has brought good from it.
We are spending this week with Holocaust Survivors in Poland – people who have seen tragedy, hatred, and trials on a scale most of us can’t even begin to imagine. They may have spent years running from God as a result. Our purpose here is to show them the transforming power of turning around and running to Him instead.
Embracing Grace 