In the Field of Grace

by Tessa Afshar

“So, even a dead sea has good things to offer. Gifts that bring life and help others.”

The very things that had seemed like unwelcome interruptions earlier rose up before him like the most important parts of his day now.

“Isn’t that stem the weakest? And yet that’s what holds the fruit. If you crush it when the blossoms are forming, there won’t be any fruit. Do you understand?”

“All I’m trying to say is that sometimes God allows bad to slide into worse, because in His hands difficulties have a way of yielding incomprehensible blessing. Joseph suffered unimaginable hours of torment and loneliness. Yet in the end, he saved a nation. Without him, you and I might not be here today. And every moment of his suffering played a role in the future of Israel. He became the man he was in part due to those heartaches. You think the God who used Joseph’s burdens for good can’t turn the ashes of your pain into beauty?

No sorrow is ever wasted in His hands.”

“Chance is God’s way of showing up without making an announcement.”

Yet, just as the darkness of night cannot overcome the worth of these jewels, your sorrows made you no less precious. Not to God. Not to others.”

Surrender means you accept God’s will, whatever He should choose. But you lean into hope. Into expectation. Not into discouragement. When God asks us to surrender, He only wants our full trust. His will is not that the worst should always come to pass. You have given up on hope. Do you think the Lord wanted your despair the day He demanded that you surrender Ruth?”

God may not always answer our questions, but He walks with us in the midst of them, lest we get lost in the wilderness of our minds.

We had to wait both of us, for many years. But those years weren’t wasted. God built our character in the waiting times.

The Lord uses odd instruments to fulfill His will. The weaker the vessel, the better He likes it. It only proves His strength. I want you to understand. I wasn’t the hero in that story. God was.”

Your great-grandfather was a discerning man, my lord. He saw wisdom at work in the ordinary things of life.”