My eldest son Andrew, posting on Way Out of the Bloo, writes a brief retrospective on the grace and mercy of God:
I was just thinking about where I was this time last year (post-camp) Its incredible how long it took me to take so few steps. But the fact that I was able to take those steps at all speaks volumes of God’s grace towards me. He never gave up, even when I was through with Him. There were times I’m convinced that I broke His heart but nothing I did was ever able to bend his will. He ultimately restored my joy. Whats more, He did it through something that should have crippled my hope. He literally turned my mourning into gladness.
His ways may be strange but boy are they good.
“His ways may be strange but boy are they good.” Now that’s an amen times infinity quote!
Having watched and prayed and walked with Andrew through the struggles of last year, and having at times helplessly watched him struggle alone when there was nothing we could do, I can’t express the thrill we’ve experienced through Andrew’s reawakening, as the dimmed light was unveiled in his heart and eventually on his countenance. God sovereignly brought Andrew back to himself and brought true anathallo (revival) into his life. I can only say this: God’s grace is truly amazing!
Andrew is growing up: spiritually, physically, emotionally, skillz-wise – really in every way. As parents we learn, little by little, to let go of these ones that we love more than we can express as they inexorably grow older.
It’s so much easier to let go when we know that God holds them. He has proven the lengths he will go to for his child. He is zealous, and loving, with a love that, as C.S. Lewis once put it, could be mistaken for ferocity. The Lord is stubborn, and in total control. We live in a veil of tears and there are struggles and stumblings and painful growth ahead, no doubt, for Andrew and for all of us. But our destiny is not the pits, and not even the valleys. Our destiny is joy and gladness in the presence of our Beloved.
Praise him forever!