Life and death, sorrow and joy

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by both sorrow and joy in my work.

Today, I had to tell a woman - for the 3rd or 4th time over this past week - that she won't make it 'till Christmas.  I hadn't realized that with her longstanding brain injury (and potentially because of how near her body is to the end) that she was forgetting our conversations. Until today when she was speaking of planning to visit a family member for Christmas.  What a difficult thing to say "Robin*, with how sick your body is, you won't make it until Christmas. You may have days or maybe a couple weeks left."  And to see her tears.

But it was also a time of great joy, being able to share with her the truth of Jesus that she has believed in and accepted, to pray with her. She's led a very difficult life, filled with many challenges that most people will never encounter.  Challenges related to homelessness, poverty, addiction.  And to see the greatness of God's grace, how it abounds to us all, no matter how many times we mess up!  I think of how many times I either end my day or start it, thinking "God, I've messed up so much in the past 24 hours, or in the past week!"  And yet knowing his grace is just as great for me as it is for her.  Just because you come to have a relationship with Jesus doesn't mean that life's difficulties don't go away, doesn't mean that the power of addiction isn't still there, doesn't mean people don't mess up - again and again. It doesn't mean that life can still be horrifically messy, and that the consequences of past decisions don't still haunt us.  But his grace is there, never ending, ever abounding, always more than we could imagine or dream of!  More than what we need, spilling over into our lives and into the lives of people around us!

And once again I am awed by our Savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

*name changed to protect privacy