As I sit here readying my heart to offer a little launch day grace, I will freely admit that we find ourselves in yet another season of hard things. It is a stretch of time when our hearts yearn for Home and the tender mercy only Jesus provides.
I say this only to authentically admit we are not masters of grace—we are simply receivers. We are continually learning, continually growing, continually stretching toward knowing Him more.
Even when we fail.
Even when we rage.
Even when we question.
Even when we faceplant on the floor.
It is in this stretching where a bittersweet relief is found. A place where we must pull ourselves back from the first-world, overabundance mentality and accept one all-important truth: life will be hard.
It will grow and stretch and threaten to break us in ways we cannot even anticipate. It will bring the unexpected, the gut-punching, the downright hilarious in every season or chapter. The vehicle may be different, but the destination is the same.
Yes, our humanity will chafe against the truth of it. Seeking to find the best outcome, the deepest blessing, the happiest of endings on our own. But in all reality, we’ve already found what we think we must manufacture.
Jesus is the best outcome, the deepest blessing, the happiest of endings. He gives us the beauty, the grace, the rest we seek in the madness of real, messy life. And He gives us the safest of places to land when we break, when we rage, when we lose our ever-loving minds in the pain of this world.
Even though we tell ourselves that only in our striving can we taste His grace, the work of the Cross is enough, and it is the only good that will satisfy our souls.
So whatever you have faced, whatever you are facing, whatever you will face, know this . . .
He is good. He is faithful. He is but a breath away.
Even. When.