Places Where Grace Is

We all experience them. And while our lives may be free of them from time to time, sooner or later, we find ourselves up against them again. Sometimes they occur slowly, subtly. Other times, we are knocked off our feet, left gasping for breath, and searching for a way of escape.

We call them by different names...trials, hard times, crisis, pain, struggles, nightmares. We probably have as many names for them, as we do experiences. I've experienced my fair, or unfair share, depending on how I look at it. And I have countless family and friends who have shared to varying degrees, theirs' with me.

It's universal. Which is why I think the lyrics and music of this song, have so captured my spirit. "Unredeemed" is a powerful song by the group Selah. The words read like this:

"The cruelest world
The coldest heart
The deepest wound
The endless dark
The lonely ache
The burning tears
The bitter nights
The wasted years

Life breaks and falls apart
But we know these are
Places where grace is soon to be so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed

For every choice that led to shame
And all the love that never came
For every vow that someone broke
And every lie that gave up hope
We live in the shadow of the fall
But the cross says these are all...

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But you never know the miracle the Father has in store
Just watch and see
It will not be
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed."

I could barely breathe when I first heard this song. There was this rush of memories of person after person who has felt "life break and fall apart". At the same time my own flood of emotions held me in its grip. I was remembering my own "endless dark" and "burning tears". To have believed that these were "places where grace is", seemed a complete impossibility. My pain redeemed?????? The pitch black prevented me from ever believing such a promise.

Today,there are still the shadows to contend with...we all still live "in the shadow of the fall", and to say that all has been fulfilled or restored would not be a true reflection of my soul. But I have watched in awe at the grace in these places. And because I never believed I would EVER see any calculable degree of redemption, it is that much more beautiful...holy.

To see SOME meaning, to have grasped GLIMPSES of purpose from the agony, this has gone a long way to clothing my once-naked soul. I know that one day it will ALL be redeemed. That glory will be blinding. For now, I will keep looking in the places of my life...where grace is.