GRACE

Mom, Don’s had a stroke!” I began to tremble at these words, and as I gripped the phone in my hands, an icy cold sweat enveloped my body.

Grateful that I had not passed out at the news, I waited until I was finally able to speak. I asked my daughter, “How bad is it?” She replied, “He is paralyzed on the entire right side of his body.” As the details began to unfold, I recognized all the miracles that had surrounded my son—a self-proclaimed agnostic. He usually visits his daughter each Sunday to have dinner with her family, but this time he went a day early to help watch the children while his daughter and son-in-law held a garage sale. Because he went a day early, he had immediate access to medical attention after the stroke. As he likes to remind us, the stroke could have taken place as he drove over to his daughter’s house at seventy miles per hour.

Another miracle was that the stroke could have happened while he was home alone. No one would have known it had happened until it was too late to help. But the greatest miracle of all, as he says, “God forbid, it had occurred during any of the sixty-nine years before that Saturday, while I lived outside the realm of God’s protective power!” Julia H. Johnston wrote the beautiful hymn “Marvelous Grace.” The last verse says, Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace Freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive?* Each miracle listed above is a manifestation of God’s grace on my son’s behalf. Each one pointed him to the cross and his Savior. Following weeks of intensive therapy and rehab, my son is no longer paralyzed. He can walk, drive, and travel alone.

He volunteers with an organization that advocates for abused children. He loves to tell his family and friends of his decision to faithfully walk in the path of God’s commands. Don’s undying love and gratitude to the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God is a testimony of God’s GRACE: God’s Redemption At Christ’s Expense.

Do you have a loved one who has not yet responded to God’s grace? Pray for it on their behalf—it is there for the asking—and then watch and see God work in their life.

Helen O. Byoune

* Julia H. Johnston, “Marvelous Grace” (1910).