Falling on His Grace

I have watched the entirety of the movie Finding Forrester many times for the closing scene. For me, the climax of the movie is not necessarily where the producer meant for it to be but in an often-enough quoted portion of a letter William Forrester wrote to his young friend, read as the movie is drawing to a close: "We walk away from our dreams, afraid we may fail, or worse yet… afraid we may succeed." This line strikes me deep to my core. I am afraid of all I am capable of - of the hurt I am able to cause to others, and, even more so, of the good I can do. It is too easy to be content living a mediocre life, a luke-warm faith. But I must attempt to live outside of mediocrity, outside of my comfort zone, and follow my deep desires and the whispers in my soul that I believe must be coming from God. Life is so busy that it is often exhausting just getting through each day, especially when juggling a job, children, a marriage, prayer time (which, unfortunately, is all too...

Andy began to look for work in the [small town] area. At first, we assumed he would be the one to work. I had always told him that if we were ever to move, I would stay home with our children. Andy looked but could not find work near [small town]. Maybe God is closing the door on this move, I thought. I had not even considered the idea that I may have to work. One week later, a letter came in the mail. As a physical therapist, I get almost daily mail seeking therapists to fill job openings. Usually, I look at them out of curiosity and then promptly discard them. But this one was different. This one was from a large, expanding Catholic organization in the Stevens Point area, calling therapists to “explore the back roads of your community” and to “bring strong Christian values and compassion to the people you serve.” It was a home health agency. “I could do this,” I told Andy, as I stood at the entrance of the living room, reading it over. ...

While I am not a writer or a theologian by training, I am a writer in that I love to write and rarely feel more alive than when I do write. And I am a theologian in that I love to study about God and to pray. I am one of those crazy people that learn the most through writing, especially when that writing is done in prayer and contemplation. And I feel that God has placed the desire to learn about Him and the desire to write on my heart. I hope that He will bless my efforts to praise Him through the use of the gifts He has given me and that He will help me to develop those gifts through their continued use so that I am able to give Him all the more glory. I am also not a counselor or a psychologist, but I do have some first hand knowledge of depression and anxiety and have learned much about both through experience. I have learned that depression and anxiety can be seen as an opportunity to fall on the grace of God, to learn to trust Him, and to allow ourselves to be drawn closer t...