He has done great things

The effects of all of the stress our family has been exposed to over the past eight weeks has arrived to somewhat of a climax in recent days. The girls are obviously more emotional each expressing the stress in thier own way. I myself have had a number of sleepless nights, which of course has led to increased irritability. Dawn has even shown more signs of concern and urgency in maintaining a certain amount of control in the household and ministry duties that she once performed with great ease. Could it be that we are worn down from weeks of riding an emotional roller coaster, or possibly that we are not getting the rest we need, more than likely both and much more. One thing for certain each one of us in our own way are attempting somehow to maintain control of our lives in every aspect that it is possible to do so. It has become eceedingly obvious to me that when we cannot control the hopeful outcome of our existence the result is that we begin to become more controling of the things that lie within our control. Maybe a better way of putting it is to say that when our lives seem to be out of control we control every aspect that we can. No matter how you say it the end result is the same, handling extrem stress and fear both of which manifest in thier own way in each of us in often varying forms is difficult at best.
However tonight as I sit in the quiet and ponder these things oddly enough the overbearing thought in my mind is how much I truly do love the Lord! You see up until a little over 31 years ago I truly did not recognize what unconditional love looked like, even though there were those who loved me so. I am not sure why it was so impossible for me to see, yet I was truly blind to it. Even after Dawn and I met and fell in love it was impossible for me to receive, you see you cannot receive a gift you feel unworthy of possessing. It was not until we met Jesus and received His grace that we realized grace is getting what we do not deserve and that unconditional love is the manifestation of grace. His love brought us in because of His mercy (not getting what we do deserve) and became alive in us as a result of His grace, (getting what we did not deserve). Not by any action of our own mind you, but as a direct result of His love, His gift for to us at absolutely no cost!
As I sit and ponder the future it is the reality of that grace and mercy that give me unwavering hope of our eventual outcome in this trial. You see if the same God who gives us freely these gifts is the one who is in control of the circumstances we find ourselves in, then should we not expect to receive from Him those or even greater gifts as a reslut of faithfully serving Him. The answer; of course we should! A God who creates such wonderful gifts and blessings for us is not a God who is capable of abandoning us or leading us in to a trap that will harm us. No, He is however a God who always has our best interest at heart, one who never leaves nor forsakes us, a God of unconditional love!
Knowing these things to be true it is with great hope and resolve that I press on, reaching for the goal, the prize, as Paul so eloquently puts it in Hebrews, running the race not sitting in the stands, but pressing on toward the goal. If for no other reason than this, our "God is worthy to be praised for He has done great things"!
Amen