Grace Notes: Unseen blessing

​I vividly remember in my late 30s coming across yet again an inventory on life stress levels.  Such inventories list events, we check those that apply in the last year, and each is given a value. Add the total. One hundred is livable, 200 means we may get sick, 300 warns of severe sickness, cancer, or death. I tallied and totaled and was shocked to score over 600. 

So, in curiosity, I scored each of the previous 10 years. Each scored over 600.

“I should have cancer or be dead!” I said in shock.

Not only that, but I should have been sick long ago, and I was at the moment very healthy.  Could it be that I had long been the recipient of continued intervention by God, and had been totally unaware — blind to God’s presence and working? It is not the only story of my blindness to God’s presence and help. What about you? Have you or people you know been the recipient of God’s grace and been totally blind to the blessing?

​I also remember a discussion about prayer and miracles with teens and a few adults. One of the teens shared a story (which I had already heard from the parents) telling how she was run over and crushed by a garbage truck when she was 2. Her parents did not wait for an ambulance.  They put her in the car, one driving and both praying. When they arrived at the emergency entrance and X-rays were taken, her bones were totally OK! One of the adults listening to the teen’s story said, “Well, children have flexible bones.”

As my mouth hung open, at least in my mind, I wondered how God shows a person God’s presence and grace if one does not hear it in that story.  

With so many who long to know that God is real, that God is present, and that God cares and helps, how can we be so blind?

Furthermore, when we do see, why would we not want to acknowledge miracles or the power of God in Jesus and others? Is it that we have already decided that God is not present, and so we cannot see what is happening any more than our children can find their socks left in the middle of the room? Are we reluctant to believe because then we would have to believe that God loves and cares for people other than ourselves? Are we afraid of not being the only ones whom God blesses? 

Are we angry if God blesses others and not us? Are we afraid of feeling out of control?  Or…?

This is a great week to ponder events of your life and that of others that may have been evidence of God’s presence and grace. It is a great week to ask others for their stories. It is a great week to ponder together why we might be resistant to seeing and proclaiming the good God has done and is doing.

And if we are among the blind or resistant, it is a great time to wake up and make a change.   Enjoy the pondering and discussion. It can only lead to blessing!