Grace and Grit

WARNING: This post is for my Christian readers. You may be offended, angered, sobered, convicted, or indifferent. My hope is that, whatever your initial reaction, you will see yourself for what you are and what you would be if not for the grace of God (and by you I mean WE). Specks of dirt, beautiful wretches, and scandalous grace. One day a young woman entered a church... Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke doesn't it? Let's call her Grace... Grace had a lot of baggage. In her 30-ish years of life she had already experienced more pain, loss, abuse, and numbness than she knew what to do with. Her abuse began when she was a young child at the hands of her father, uncle, and brother. Each of them were responsible for stripping away her innocence, dignity, and hope. After years of unimaginable torment that became her daily reality she met a man. This man was better than any of the men she had ever known or loved. He could take her away ...

It's been two months, but I'm back! It began with some soul searching. I asked God to reveal areas that I was fighting Him for control or had given up on, needs I was ignoring, desires and dreams I had thrown away because I saw no progress, stress triggers, why my sleep wasn't restful, why silence was something I tried to avoid, etc. Over the past two months I have been learning how to make time for respite. Respite means an " interval of relief ." It's the calm amidst the storm, the break between semesters, the good night's sleep after a long hard day, the cold glass of water after a walk through the desert, and the hug and loving words of a friend in a crisis. Taken from http://thoughtfulcaregiver.com/ This past season has been a difficult one for me at the shelter. A pregnant mom left us to return to her abuser which, even though I know statistically a woman leaves 7 times before it's for good, it was beyond my comprehension. How can someon...