BY JOYCE PELLETIER

‘Grace in Christian theology is the spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favor in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in individuals for their regeneration. It also alludes to elegance and courtesy.’

It also means that when things get tough, you don’t have to give into the difficulties and challenges of facing a tough situation. Surrendering your life to Jesus gives us the gift of grace to allow God to be there to help us through all things. That includes the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

His Word tells us in 2 Cor 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

When we admit our shortcomings, it makes it real, yet it doesn’t have to knock us down. God promises us in Eph 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Many years ago, I had to face some challenges I never thought I could do. Our daughter was the first grandchild in the family. She doted on her, as well as the other two grandkids. When Jackie was planning her wedding, we noticed something different about Mom. Her normal mode when we were together was to go to extremes to celebrate whatever was going on. Her granddaughter’s wedding was so different. It wasn’t “Mom.” They came to Vermont to be with us, and they enjoyed the festivities that go with a wedding.

At the time of the wedding, I was so involved in helping our daughter with the preparations, I was too occupied and distracted, I just pushed it aside. I knew something was different, yet in my distractions, I was able to just push it aside, besides I could get it figured out after festivities.

A few months later, I received word from my brother that they took Mom to the doctors so they could run some tests. They discovered she had Alzheimer’s Disease. I didn’t know much about the disease, but I did what I could to get my parents to move to Vermont. They agreed. It was four years of rebuilding our family. Coming from a dysfunctional home, those years, God led us through a lot of healing and they were the best years ever.

 In 1997, we had to place Mom in a nursing home, as the care that was needed was causing my Dad more issues with his health. The following February, my Dad was also placed in the same nursing home because of his failing heart.

These few years were filled with pain for me. Visiting them was quite difficult. Mom couldn’t hold a conversation, Dad fell into depression because of his health. Some days when I finished my visits with them, I’d get in my truck and sit there and cry, sometimes I’d scream at God before I could drive home. The days when Mom didn’t know me were the most difficult.

During that time, my brother came for a visit from South Carolina. We’d been estranged for over 40 years. During that weekend, we were completely reconciled. Less than a month later, David passed away in his sleep. Less than 2 months later, my Dad passed away. Mom hung on for three more years.

It’s now many years later, and God taught me so much about myself and his relationship with me. I struggled with my losses, but I knew all three of them were with God in heaven. They believed in Jesus and were not afraid to die. 

The dependance I put on God grew, and from those years of loss, was life-changing for me. In Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

 John 1:16 says, “And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”

God’s Grace, (the Holy Spirit) is the promise from God given to us.  In Acts 2, you will see that His Ascension back to Heaven didn’t mean he was abandoning us. He left us a gift of the Holy Spirit to be in all the hearts of believers. As the song says, “Only by grace can we enter, Only by grace can we stand, Not by our human intensions, but by the blood of the Lamb.”

This year of the ‘tent caterpillars’ defoliating our trees, yet a few weeks after they died off, the leaves are returning. That is an Act of God’s creation to not fret. We just need to move forward.

BY JORDAN MAYER

"Pray without ceasing..."
(1 Thessalonians 5:17)

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul closes out his first letter to the church with some final instructions. Among a litany of other charges, he writes three short, but impactful words: “pray without ceasing”.

This is not the first time Paul has used these words. Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul opens his letter to the Colossians by saying that he and Timothy, “…have not ceased to pray for you...” (Colossians 1:9). How is it that Paul could be so bold as to claim this? And it begs a few questions for how we could possibly pray without ceasing in our own lives.

Should we be mindlessly repeating a few scripted prayers? Should we lock ourselves inside our homes and isolate ourselves from the outside world in order to fully devote ourselves to prayer? Is Paul's charge out of touch with the demands of our fast-paced, modern world?

It doesn’t take long to realize that this definition of “ceaseless prayer” is neither practical or possible, nor is it the message Paul is trying to get across.

For me, I have found it helpful to first remind myself of what prayer truly is: a conversation with God. Prayer is not mere religious utterings, it is the intimate and direct communication with the God of the universe! So, ceaseless prayer is the kind of conversation that is never quite finished. It's about adopting not only the action of prayer, but an attitude of prayer.

Ceaseless prayer is the opposite of occasional prayer or inconsistent prayer. It's about taking God through your day. As we awake in the morning, our first conversation is to thank God for the night’s rest and the gift of a new day. We thank Him for who He is and what He has done. Before the day’s to-do’s begin to pile up, we pray over the day's needs and seek His wisdom, guidance, and strength. When the unexpected trials pop up in the middle of our day, we take them to the Lord in prayer. When we return home and settle in for the night, we recount the day's blessing.

Hour by hour, minute by minute, we keep lifting up our prayers to our Heavenly Father. Thanking Him for His blessings, confessing our sins, seeking His will, asking for His deliverance.

This is a habit I’ve been trying to build in my own life. How easy it is to begin my day in prayer, and then fail to offer up another word to the one who sustains my very life. I get into the office and am quickly overcome by the hustle and bustle of the day's activities. Before I know it, the day is over and I've missed precious moments with my Lord. There is a time and a place for dedicated and extended sessions of prayer, but we are also invited to infuse moments of prayer into every day life. God wants to hear from us, not because we are telling Him anything that He does not already know, but because it demonstrates our willingness to come to Him in faith and trust, in relationship.

Begin the day in prayer. Go through your day in prayer. End your day in prayer. Each day and every day.

In the beautiful hymn, In the Garden, C. Austin Miles speaks of this intimate relationship he shares with His Lord and Savior as he walks in his garden in the cool of the morning.

"And he walks with me
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known."
(In the Garden by C. Austin Miles)

BY MARTHA CHEVALIER
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"For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.' Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation."
(2 Corinthians 6:2)

Returning home from co-leading a biannual retreat for women battling or surviving cancer, I pulled off the isolated road to wet a line (go fishing).  It was raining steady when I stopped, and by the time I had donned my waders and laced up my boots, the weather had morphed into a deafening downpour. I stepped into the fast-moving water on this unfamiliar river. I enjoyed the reassuring feeling of my studded boots securely gripping the slippery rocks. My glasses were useless, steamy, and the rain pounded unrelenting.  My concentration was set as I worked hard to tie on a fly.  Something emerged out of the river directly in front of me. I had no idea what it was, but based on the splash, I knew it must be large, perhaps an otter?  Unwilling to break my focus from tying on the fly. I spoke out loud to whoever/whatever was bobbing at this point very near my left hip. Holding up my index finger and in the tone of a patient mother, I said out loud “hold on, I’ll get to you.” I was interested…. Moments later, I looked up to behold a king-size loon, less than arm’s length away... in borrowed words from Maya Angelou, “this creature was trailing wisps of glory.” 
 
What could this possibly have to do with the bible? Occasionally, while reading the bible, I stumble upon my own “wild loon moments.”  Sometimes the words on the page take on unusual bursts of glory. It’s as though normal time and experience shifts from business as usual to anything but usual. Water to wine moments, simple bread becomes a feast. … The ancient Greeks reflect such moments in their vocabulary, expressed through two separate words for time. Kronos, expresses time that’s ordinary, sequential, chronological, as opposed to a Kairos. Kairos has an eternal component, lasting, unusual, remarkable, infused with wonder and awe. The bible has many moments that feature Kairos time. The greatest Kairos wonder is found in John 3:16. For God so loved the world he sent his Son. Kairos tends to emerge suddenly, just like my loon. Moments when we come alive, encountering the living God at a precise moment in time. I suppose it’s akin to climbing into a dusty attic wardrobe, beholding the wonders on the other side.  Moses had a burning bush (Exodus 3), Mary had a visit from Gabriel (Luke 1), Jacob encountered God through angels ascending and descending at Bethel while resting his head upon a rock (Gen 28). Elijah heard the still small voice (1 kings 19).  Ezekiel saw the wheel within the wheel (Ezekiel 1). John, the beloved, encountered Jesus yielding wild revelations on the Greek Isle of Patmos. Are we any different? We are not. 

“Suddenly my righteousness will come near, and my salvation will be shining out like the light; the sea-lands will be waiting for me, and they will put their hope in my strong arm.” Isa 51:5