After pushing myself away from Thanksgiving dinner the other day, I began thinking about the things I’m most thankful for in my life.
Basically, I think most of us are thankful for similar things – family, friends, employment, etc.
My beautiful family is one of the things I’m most thankful for in life.
And while there’s nothing wrong with being thankful for those types of things, as I sat and pondered the things I’m thankful for, my mind drifted to some of the most difficult times in my otherwise ordinary life.
It’s often in these times that – when we’re able to look back into the cloud of hurt and uncertainty – we realize God was alongside us the whole time, steadily spinning His web of what’s known as Prevenient Grace into our life.
Prevenient Grace is what I like to call the divine super highway of forks in the roads of our destiny.
I personally think our lives are filled with opportunities – both delightful and painful – to engage our God-given free will to go in a direction that is either headed toward God, or away from God.
And I also believe that we may come to these forks not even knowing they are forks at all – or at least not until many years later anyway.
The reason I believe this has a lot to do with how you are even reading this very post today.
You see, the summer of 1993 was not a good time in my life by any stretch of the imagination.
I was an energetic 25-year old husband and father with a good job, new vehicle and was in the process of purchasing a lovely home in a small town.
It should have been the prime of my life, but it turned out to be a snare of avalanches waiting at every turn.
With little notice that things were going wrong, my now ex-wife informed me that she was leaving – with my son.
Less than two weeks later, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
For the next six months I watched as my once-strong Dad withered and writhed in unrelenting pain until he passed away early that December.
Financially hanging by a thread, I switched jobs to work for a company that provided insurance so I could afford to pay child support.
And if that wasn’t enough, within two weeks of my father’s funeral, I lost the 2,000 square-foot house I had just finished remodeling and moved into an aging 12-foot-wide mobile home.
If someone would have told me God was working in my life at that point, I think I might have punched them.
Shortly after beginning my new job, I was confronted by one of my new managers after he had heard through the grapevine that I was a semi-talented “artist.”
Not wanting to disappoint my new boss, I reluctantly agreed to produce a weekly cartoon for the company newsletter.
But within a few weeks, I quickly realized I simply didn’t know enough about the company culture there to come up with pertinent or relative cartoons about the place, so I attempted to bow out of the obligation graciously.
Not a chance.
Instead, my boss – Marcus Perry – suggested I contribute to the newsletter in a different way.
He asked me to write.
You wouldn’t know it now, but at that time, I had ZERO interest in writing anything, much less a boring weekly article for a company newsletter.
Still trying not to disappoint, I grudgingly agreed since he said I could write about anything.
So I wrote about the only subject I knew anything about at that time…sports.
From there, something strange began to happen.
Over the next few weeks, I was encouraged by enough people that I decided to apply for a part-time job at the local newspaper.
Well, one thing led to another and not only did I go on to write professionally for the next 15 years as a part-time sportswriter, but I also earned 14 Florida Press Association writing awards in the process.
Then, when my “real” job (not to mention my monthly bills) demanded more of my time, I walked away from writing and journalism completely.
But just when I thought my “writing” career was over, God let me know He wasn’t done with me and writing just yet.
So after a nearly 5-year hiatus, I suddenly felt led to start the blog ministry you’re reading right now – A Changing Grace.
In less than three months, with His power – not mine – A Changing Grace has grown faster than I could’ve ever imagined, reaching nearly 1,400 visitors from 23 different countries.
Friends, I write this today not only because I’m thankful for God’s Prevenient Grace, but also to give you hope.
The fact is, no matter what we’re going through, and no matter how far God feels distant from you, don’t ever discount the fact that this just might be the moment He’s working the hardest in your life – even if you’re like me and it takes you nearly 20 years to figure it out.
A Changing Grace 