Grace Under Pressure

 

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

 

It’s difficult to get your bearings when the world beneath your feet keeps shifting year after year. Benjamin Vrbicek

 

Our May issue has always focused on women, primarily mothers along with topics we think will be of interest to them. This one is no different in theme, and at the same time, it is very different from any we have done before. I don’t think we have ever had such a wide range of unique women-centered stories representing such a cross section of generations, challenges, hard fought battles and grace-filled accomplishments. The stories here make me think of a very good Father God who is known for “coloring outside the lines!” He is also the God who never wastes anything—nada, nothing—in our lives.

 

If the loudest voices in our secular world are clamoring for diversity as if it is the only measurement for authenticity, take a look here. I guarantee a few giggles and a few tears. I would tease you some more, but I want you to be surprised!

 

I recently ran across a blog post by Benjamin Vrbicek on my Twitter feed. Observation: All social media is not trivial, political, angry, or a waste of time. I discovered this particularly thoughtful nugget with a link on John Piper’s “Desiring God” site.

 

The title was “Am I Still Me?” But it was the subtitle “Finding Yourself When Life Changes” that grabbed my attention. I have written often about changing seasons in one’s life, but to be honest, I have never done “change” very well. The thing I loved about this particular article was that Vrbicek reminded me of all the Bible heroes we revere who experienced some pretty enormous changes in their own lives, and all of those changes did not feel like promotions to a fatter paycheck or a bigger office. Some of those things—he used the word “transitions”—called people to sacrifice, to suffer, to leave a place of security (I have to laugh at our present day definition of security), and go to a place of uncertainty.

 

Transition implies a gradual process. Sometimes change is not so kind—it is more like a ton of bricks dumped on your head as in an unexpected diagnosis or a phone call delivering devastating news. I thought of the famous author and psychologist M. Scott Peck who began his best seller The Road Less Traveled with this simple truth, “Life is difficult.”

 

I have lived long enough to be able to testify that this earthly life is indeed very difficult quite often. Some of the most painful difficulties don’t come wrapped in tragedy, but are rather the inevitable circumstances of time. Children leave the nest. Parents grow old. Loved ones die. As normal as those events are, they catch us by surprise. Nothing stays the same here. I seem to be reminded of that on a daily basis right now.

 

I can only speak from a woman’s perspective, but I think one of the hardest trials in life is moving graciously from one season of life to the next without losing a sense of purpose and the confidence in our certain hope—God’s promise to never leave or forsake. Most of us can’t manage to self-help our way through that journey. In our own strength, it’s not just hard—it’s impossible. What a comfort to know that we have a God who travels with us and more importantly, He knows the way.

 

Happy month of May. Wishing you God’s blessings, grace and peace that passeth all understanding—always and forever.