"Grace"

When the way seems dark and cloudy,

And the wind blows in your face,

And the burden’s gettin’ heavy,

And you’re forced to slow your pace.

When your friends don’t want to hear it,

‘Cause they’ve heard it all before,

And you wonder if they’re with you,

Or might not love you anymore.

When the sadness and the hopeless,

Takes a grip upon your heart,

You know you should feel better,

But can’t find the strength to start.

The end of all your effort,

And reserves of all your strength,

Puts you in a place to know,

The depth and width and length,

Of grace that meets you where you are,

But will not let you stay,

Down in that sad, old valley,

With nothing left to say.

When the bottom is way up there,

When you’ve done all that you can,

The grace then comes through shining,

Will help you make a stand.

And you find that grace is bigger,

And the love is still so strong,

Overshadows what you’re feeling,

And tells you, you belong.

To the One who holds the keys to life,

In every high and low,

And He unlocks all that we need,

And makes all His grace flow.

He shows us love’s dimensions,

So grand and measureless,

The Spirit makes it real to us,

And gives us God’s own “yes.”

And when we know this truly,

Things change and so do we,

The deepest, darkest burden,

Can’t steal the grace, you see.

I pray that you can see it,

And feel the words I pray,

Down in that dark, old valley,

The grace starts new today.

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is…” (Ephesians 3:18, NLT)

The valley is deep, but God’s love is deeper. The mountain is high, but the love of God overshadows it. The problem is overwhelming, but nothing when compared to the massive, powerful, unconditional love of God. Such love is impossible to comprehend unless the Holy Spirit communicates it to us. But that is exactly what He wants to do! All God’s people should have the power to understand, Paul wrote, and that’s because it is God’s will for us to understand and comprehend and receive it when we need it the most. Jesus died and was raised to give it to us, and the Spirit will go to great lengths to convey to us how valuable we are in God’s eyes. This affirmation is not to feed our egos, but to nourish our true spiritual identity. It is when the love flows that we truly understand who He is and who we are in Him. Strength for every challenge follows. Believe it.

Lord, help us grasp the dimensions of Your love, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by J.L. Grief, jlgrief.com. Used by permission. Thanks, J.L., and God bless you.