My husband and I have struggled three years now to sell a home in the small college town where I taught twenty-two years. We were, therefore, elated the middle of February to receive a verbal offer, followed by a formal one, for a sale. Unfortunately, the offer was contingent upon the prospective buyer's being able to sell his house near Fayetteville, Arkansas. After waiting three months, we were all beginning to lose hope when I got the big idea: we would trade houses. After all, he needed more space for his growing family, and we needed less. While we are still happy that we have moved in this direction, we have also struggled with the decision.
I lay awake in our empty home last week wondering if we had made another mistake; it seems that we have made a series of bad decisions since 2004. We should be debt free at this time of our lives, yet--due to the decisions of our own making as well as the housing market failures--we still owe a lot of money for houses. Is this what we call "dark grace" I wondered. It's the type of grace that we struggle with as God teaches us His will and lessons that we could not otherwise learn. As someone has joked recently, it is always darkest before the true night comes. As the apostle Paul reminded us in the Scripture, we see through a glass darkly in this life. We grope around as lost as possible many times seeking the light only to find more shadows.
As I paced about the house in the middle of the night, I noticed the nearly-full moon shining through the shadows of the trees. I believed God was giving me some of His "prevenient grace." It has been defined the grace that precedes real grace.
I then felt a transcendent sense of His peace. His true love had arrived as the three graces danced in the moonlight of my mind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment