Amazing Grace is one of my all-time favorite songs. Written by a former slave-trader who lived a less- than-stellar life before he met Christ, this usage defines grace as God’s eternal, life-saving, undeserved favor. The origins of grace in Latin are related to thankfulness –and in Greek, to rejoicing.
God is thankful and rejoices over us when we recognize and accept his graciousness (Isaiah 62:5). In return, we are to be a thankful and rejoicing people (Isaiah 61:10).
Today I am that sort of person—thankful and rejoicing because of God’s grace. Just recently He handed me a week full of blessings for no particular reason as far as I know. I think He just loves me:). But before I describe the blessings, I need to mention the contrast of the week before last. That week was characterized by fear.
Fear is a gift (not!) I give to myself.
I know fear. Anxiety may be a better word for what I experience, but fear is the core emotion. This time it was brought on by the anticipation of an anniversary trip with my husband to the New England Coast. The trip itself was not the stressor. The stressor was preparing for the trip and feeling okay with leaving the kids at home. Special-needs moms know this stress well. Will the kids adjust? Will they behave? How will the caretakers handle a meltdown? Will they recognize critical signs or symptoms? What if the plane goes down or my husband or I don’t return from our trip? How will anyone else help my children when only I know what they really need?
Our kids are actually young adults now so they took care of themselves when we traveled this time. That in itself is a a measure of God’s amazing grace, although it also brings into play its own set of concerns. One of our children still can get seriously anxious and depressed when we leave—but nobody else would know because she’ll rarely share those feelings with others. The other child relies on us for complicated decision-making, and sometimes, for basic common sense. These kids are not ready to live on their own without their parents picking up and piecing together some missing links. This means I am still concerned about the plane going down.
Read the entire post on Key Ministry for Families.
Karen Crum
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