God's Grace

Over the past seven months I have found myself in the deepest valley of desperation as well as the highest mountaintop of strength. My husband has had three surgeries since February and is preparing to have number four in a few weeks. This has been difficult in many ways but I am thankful for the way that it has brought me to my knees. It has made me fully dependant upon Him rather than man. It has humbled me and in essence lifted me up. It is ironic to me how those two things are so intertwined in God's plan!
Luke 1:52
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.

James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Little did I know when I prayed that God would lift us up that it would require so much humility and basically tearing me down to the very core. But He did it in such a graceful, gentle way that it did not destroy me but rather filled me with hope and joy. It also filled me with true repentance, one that hears the word and obeys:

James 1:22-25
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

How thankful I am for the change He is bringing about in me! I know that He will indeed complete the work that He has started within me.