Grace for the Moment

2 Corinthians 12:9..."My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..."

Being the wife of a pastor, I've had many experiences and moments to face. I have always found that God gives me grace for every moment.

It's those phone calls in the middle of the night that I find to be the hardest. Most of the time whatever is on the other side of that call is usually not good. Immediately, I start thinking what are we (Mark and I) going to be able to do to help. But God has always given us "grace" to face every one of them.

One particular moment that I will mention for now happened this summer...

Mark and I were 1,800 miles apart. He had went on a mission trip to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation along with my brother in law, Randy and some other pastor friends of his. I can remember how excited Mark was to get to spend the next 10 days with Randy.

After the long trip there, they settled at the camp and prepared for the evening service. During the service Mark noticed that Randy wasn't feeling well. He and the other men decided that he needed to go to the Reservation hospital. They determined that he was having a heart attack. As they worked with him he had a code blue and all the monitors flat lined. Mark and another brother immediately fell to their knees and began to pray right there on the ER floor. After being shocked 4 times, Randy was stabilized and flown to the nearest hospital and underwent heart surgery and received a stint and Mark received a new outlook on life...

I received a phone call in the middle of the night, one of those where all you can do is pray. Mark was getting ready to call my sister in Georgia where he knew she was alone at the time. As he called her, I called my mom and dad and gave them the news...

Those next 3 days that Mark spent with Randy as they made arrangements for Rhonda, her friend, and his parents to get to Billings, Montana will forever be etched in his mind. In those days, we all seen the grace of God at work. For Randy, it was life. The doctors said if he hadn't been where he was at that moment, he would have died. For my sister, it was being able to get a friend to fly out there with her as she traveled and being able to see her soul mate alive and well. For his parents, it was being able to embrace their son once again. For Mark, it was knowing God gives you people to help you although you are miles away from home. For the men on the mission trip, it was seeing God's hand at work and experiencing the power of God through prayer. For me, it was knowing that I could pray for someone when I couldn't be there physically.

God's grace and His power is made strong in our weakness. Only His power could be with all of us that day. No matter what we face in life, we need to know that He is there with us. His grace is sufficient for us...

He will give us "Grace for the Moment."