Moments in Grace

Standing at the sink, soap suds filling my hands I hear a voice behind me.   “Mom, I feel like I don’t have a purpose.   I mean, I can’t do anything well.   I’m not really good at anything, I don’t have any talents or whatever.   Why am I even here?” I know this question all too well, precious child.   In a world that manufactures idols out of ordinary people every day, where people make idols out of themselves, where movies, t.v. and social media continually tempt us to self-aggrandize and self-publicize, and where all it takes is one glance at another person’s facebook page to make you feel that all of life is a competition to be won and you are clearly the biggest loser that there ever was, yes, my child it can be hard to feel like you matter. But I need to tell you something. You matter to God. You are important to God. Because God, the eternal Creator of all things, does not make trash.   He does no...

The path through the woods meanders back in the dusky light.   I’m not quite sure where it leads to. I see it almost every morning as I walk and I pass it but this morning it captivates, beckons mysteriously.   I don’t always like mysterious paths.   I like paths that make sense, paths that I understand, paths that I can clearly see where they are leading. God’s paths are not like that. They wind through sometimes dark woods.   These paths go uphill, often climbing steeply through rough terrain and most of the time I cannot tell where they are exactly heading. Sitting with a friend recently, in a coffee shop we swapped God stories next to a quiet fire and caught up on each other’s journeys.   My single friend told me of her work and the small group that she leads and the women she is discipling and the beautiful things God is doing in her life.   And it was plain to me, as clear as the blue October sky that God was making her fruitful right whe...