Held in Grace....

My heart rejoices that our family continues to breathe in Jesus' grace as we are exhaling his JOY during this Christmas Season.  With each step, in our deepest, darkest, lowest of valley's we are walking----he's proven FAITHFUL!  We aren’t waiting for PEACE and JOY, rather we are walking in it!  PEACE and JOY are not a feeling, rather they are a decision that we are making moment by moment.

As I reflect on JESUS' goodness I find great joy in knowing that HE has been constant....our anchor......our source.....our guide......our comfort.....our healer and he's been the lifter of our heads!

JESUS you’ve been standing at every corner, every memory and every new emotion whispering in our ear, "fear is a liar!" Sorrow, lose, and grief will not overcome us.

Each morning your sweet mercies greet us afresh and anew, and it’s in these sweet mercies we are able to pick up our mat of suffering, and continue to follow hard after you.  It's in our choosing, an act of our will to not sit in our grief...but to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we trust your hand as you guide us.

I see you JESUS, moment by moment taking the dust of our shattered, broken hearts and lives, and you are breathing hope and a promise into the ashes as you shape, mold and create something new in and through each of us.

We may not know what the future holds, but we can confidently  rest in the knowing you are making a way in our wilderness.  You are not asking us to understand your plan, or figure out whats ahead. You are simply asking us to TRUST your plan. TRUST your process.  TRUST your purpose.  And most importantly...... TRUST you!!

Never once have we walked alone.  You've been FAITHFUL Jesus.....and your FAITHFULNESS will continue to lead and guide us.

Never Once-Matt Redman