Originally written on August 14,2017
“There is peace and stillness as I arise this morning in the little 1/2 acre that is our sanctuary. I pray God’s peace for all the people and in all the places where God is known and welcomed…..and that those people and places will be salt and light to the rest of the world.”
Observed 8 days after Bill’s death, August 14, 2020 about that prayer…. “still true.”
Today. August 14,2022……. I am in a different place, but the prayer is still the same. Amen.
On August 14,2015 I had written this about a family member….
“My heart aches that the same old obstacles keep popping up in the lives of people about whom we care, but about which there is little we can do. We offer prayers for the sufficiency of God’s grace for each day’s challenges and for the individuals’ wisdom to grow to make good decisions and persevere in God’s strength.”
Five years later, on August 14,2020, 8 days after Bill’s death as I reflected on this previous thought, I was thinking of Bill and added this:
“Thoughts from 5 years ago….Bill knew the sufficiency of God’s grace in the important things of life and even in the need for “daily bread”…..”
Today, August 14, 2022 as I think of Bill, I know he trusted the sufficiency of God’s grace. His life scripture had become 2 Corinthians 12:9
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.”
Though Bill often didn’t delight in weaknesses and difficulties, he learned the sufficiency of God’s grace and trusted in it even as the shadow of death approached in the first months after the COVID-19 pandemic spread, threatening us all.
I pray for the sufficiency of God’s grace for myself now each day to sustain me as salt and light.
9/14/2020
4:30 a.m. knowing God is listening to me while I am bowed in his presence is the sweetest time of day. ABBA’s hand rests lightly on me and he says, “I know, Child. I’m right here with you. My grace is sufficient for every need. In your weakness I am strong. Rise and be at peace this day. I am with you. I will carry you through the difficult times.”