My mom suffered a minor stroke recently. As strokes go it was a good one. No long term effects. No real damage or debilitation thankfully.
What it did do was prompt my mom to recognize that she and my dad, who suffers from the early stages of dementia, need to make a change in how they were living. They have lived in the same home for 30 years, but just could not do the work necessary to maintain their home and property. In addition, due to the stroke, mom is not allowed to drive.
So, everything pointed to mom and dad moving to an assisted living residence. My sisters live on the North Shore of Vancouver, while my parents lived in White Rock, so we thought it best to look for a facility on the North Shore. All the siblings kicked into gear to make this happen. And, most importantly, the grace of God kicked into gear to make everything happen as seamlessly as possible.
To cut a long story short, roughly 2 weeks to the day from mom’s stroke, mom and dad were sitting in their new chairs in the living room of their beautiful 10th floor 2 bedroom unit in an amazing assisted living facility 5 minutes from my sister’s home in North Van. We had moved out and moved in the furniture they wanted to keep; bought, assembled and moved in the new furniture they needed; packed up and moved in all their clothes and household necessities; separated everything from the old house the children and grandchildren wanted; set aside everything we were giving to MCC, and filled a container full of garbage.
We interviewed 4 real estate agents, picked the one we wanted to work with, cleaned the house, staged it, and hadn’t even formally listed it before someone wanted to see it and put an offer for full price. To accomplish all of this my brother came out from Winnipeg so the two of us could do all the heavy lifting while my sisters did other necessary tasks.
Ron and I worked long hard days. We were bagged. We were beat like rented mules, but getting my parents happily in their new home and well cared for was worth all the effort.
While Ron and I were pounding it out during one of our 12 hours days we realized this was a demonstration of a profound spiritual truth. It was clear that God’s grace was all over this move. This kind of thing just does not typically go this smoothly. And, it all coincided on the only week Ron and I had free to be able to do it. It was very evident God’s hand of grace was very active – His finger prints were all over this move.
However, His purposes required our engagement, our effort. In order to reap the benefits of God’s purposes and grace we had to choose to engage. I will not bore you with the details of how much work went into this by the family, but suffice it to say there was lots and lots of work put in. And that is the lesson we recognized in this situation: God’ will is good, but not easy. God’s grace is great, but He demands our engagement to experience it.
We can often erroneously think that if it’s God’s will then it will be easy. That has not been my experience. Sure, there are some occasions when God simply makes a way and we enjoy the ride. That tends to be the exception, not the rule though. Story after story in scripture demonstrates God’s will and grace in action, but demands the engagement of God’s people.
Paul in the epicenter of God’s will suffered beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, and many, many difficulties. God’s will is not easy, but it is good.
Whatever you may be facing, whatever God may be inviting you into will demand your engagement and effort. God never promised things would be easy, but He did promise to be with us. He promised to provide His grace and strength. He promised He would never leave us or forsake us.
God’s will is good, but not easy. Don’t give up. Don’t grow weary in doing good. His grace is sufficient for us in the midst of the difficulty.
Deuteronomy 31:6
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
II Corinthians 9:8 (NASB)
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;”
Philippians 4:13
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Galatians 6:9
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”