How Grace Becomes Visible

Joni Erickson Tada, who is almost totally paralyzed from a swimming accident, lifted her arms as high as she could in her braces and shout, "This is the prison where God set me free." What she meant was that the pain and limitation and frustration brought on by her disability threw her back on God in such a way that she discovered what true freedom in life is all about--and it is not about arms and legs and skiing and jogging. It's about forgiveness and hope and love and meaning and eternal life. It's about knowing that God is for you and not against you even in suffering. That's how grace becomes visible.

The grace of God becomes visible by turning sorrow into substance. All the embarrassment and all the humiliation and all the loneliness and all the crying out to God is a gift. I have seen the grace of God in my life and I am glad. He takes what seems to be the worst of circumstances and turns them into good news. He did it for the persecuted Christians in Acts. He did it for Korean refugees in the USSR. He did it for Joni Erickson Tada. He did it for me--and still is. And He can do it for you, no matter what you are going through these days.

I don't mean that everything will be easy. I mean everything will have meaning. Everything will be bearable. Everything will make you wiser and more loving. Everything will draw you nearer to God. That and a lot more. That is how the grace of God will become visible in your life.

And God will do it if you trust him.Trust the grace of God. Don't put your trust in yourself. Don't put your trust in money. Don't put your trust in the government. Don't put your trust in the church. Don't put your trust in your job. Don't put your trust in any person. Put your trust in the grace of God. And then hang in there. Don't let anybody trick you out of the greatest gift in the world--living in the joy and power of the grace of God...becoming visible in your life.