God’s grace is unending. With a little less than four hours of sleep behind me I know His grace is the only way I made it through the day with a smile on my face. When my alarm went off I was in such a deep slumber it took a few seconds to remember why I was getting up. Once I came to, the events of the day before settled upon me like an itchy wool blanket. Without hesitation I began to pray for Joseph and his parents. Not far behind was the conversation I had with the young man.
This young man (in his 20’s) was in great despair because he felt like God had removed His presence from his life. One day he could feel God and feel comfort from His word and then thoughts began to plague his mind. Essentially, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” It was an irony for him to put this question before me an hour and a half before we were to hold a vigil for a healthy ‘good’ young man that certainly didn’t need to be hooked up to tubes and machines in ICU. When these thoughts entered his mind it was as if they were parasites that took hold of his belief and sucked it dry. He could no longer feel God.
Prompted by the Holy Spirit, I had a feeling I knew where he was coming from and so I asked him various questions to see if my inclination was correct. The spirit knew what he was doing because this young man really opened up and soon we were deep into the conversation, and back into HIS word. Neat thing about this young man is he doesn’t go to our church. He said he was ‘prompted’ to come to the chapel the night before where he ended up meeting a woman that offered him my card and essentially led him there to talk to me. It was clear that God had His thumb on this young man, leading him where He wanted him to go. It was a great opening to lead into the evening of hope for Joseph.
As I prayed this morning for both young men I also kept in mind the huge undertaking that had consumed my life for the entire week. He is so good! We made MORE than we have EVER made before in the 7 years we’ve done these garage sales!
I left the church by 4:15 this afternoon and called to get an update on Joseph. The swelling in his brain has gone down a great deal which is a good sign! However, it is still too soon to tell. KEEP PRAYING. If you would like to see pictures of Joseph and his family and read more about him and to be updated on his condition visit:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasjosephstanton
His grace is enough. It is abundant. It is overflowing. It is what sustains us.
Blessed be His name.
Shannon