Growing in Grace | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Growing in Grace | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ellen Janson
11/30/23
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Michael had heard of Job in the Bible. He wondered if that should have been his name. He had lost three of the four most precious women in his life within six months of each other.

His grandmother was only 60 years old when Michael was born; he had been close to her all of his 45 years. She had been especially supportive during his teenage years when he and her son, Michael’s father, had gone through challenging times. Grandma always calmly helped Michael see things from his father’s perspective. She was 105 years old when she passed away, so he shouldn’t have been surprised, but still, he had just taken her to the DMV for her license renewal seven years ago.

It had seemed as if she might live forever.

Michael’s wife served him with divorce papers shortly after his grandmother’s funeral. He begged her to go to marriage counseling with him - he knew he wasn’t without faults - but she refused. He loved her and their daughter, and just couldn’t believe his wife was willing to walk away from the life they had created.

But she was.

The final blow was his mother’s Alzheimer's diagnosis. His mom had always been his biggest cheerleader. Despite the near constant friction with his father, Michael had never doubted his mother’s love for him. Even as an adult, he often relied on her words of wisdom and support.

But she was no longer able to follow their conversations, much less offer him advice.

Michael literally felt as if he was drowning, but there was one female left in his life who meant every bit as much to him as these three women - his daughter, Grace. Grace was only eight years old when Michael’s world fell apart. She was the one keeping him afloat.

Grace was so much like her mother - sweet, but very anxious and insecure. Michael felt completely incapable of parenting an eight year old girl. The thought of one day raising a teenage girl terrified him even more. One especially difficult day with his daughter, Michael finally cried out to Jesus as his mother had always taught him to do. The very day he fell to his knees, he got a call from his Aunt Cathy, his mother’s sister and closest friend.

Cathy had seen Michael’s pain, and, having been divorced herself, understood it. Cathy heard his concerns for his daughter and understood that too. Over the next several months, Michael spoke often with his Aunt Cathy. She watered the many seeds that his mother and grandmother had planted. She taught Michael that the most important thing he could do for his daughter Grace was to teach her of God’s great love for her. Cathy shared with him that she used to stand her own (now adult) daughter in front of a mirror every night and proclaim with her, “I am beautiful. I am strong. I am an adored daughter of the one true King.”

Slowly Michael put this, and many other new habits into practice. Slowly he recognized his need for a savior and finally he welcomed Jesus into his heart. As his faith grew, it became his mission to teach his daughter, Grace, about God’s great love for her. Yes, there were still some rough patches, but Michael persisted in teaching Grace and leading her by both word and example. He tried very hard to honor those women who had meant so much to him.

Twenty years later, Michael walked his daughter down a church aisle on her wedding day. As he handed her over to his future son-in-law, Grace whispered to him, “I am beautiful. I am strong. I am an adored daughter of the one true King.” He turned away to hide his tears, and his Aunt Cathy caught his eye from across the church and smiled. Michael remembered her first phone call to him so many years ago, and had no doubt that she had been sent by the One who adored him even more than he adored his daughter.

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