Victory and grace go hand in hand. In my opinion, they can’t be separated. How do we go on after we fall so far? How is it that our past can be changed and we can emerge as a new creation? How can we get up off of the ground after we are trampled in the mud? Simply by grace! Victorious grace!

I’ve been at the bottom more than once in my life. Each time I got there, it was harder to get up again. I got to the place where I simply didn’t want to go on. Then I read this scripture. Isaiah 51:22-23 This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends his people:  “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger;  from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked over.”

For so long I felt like a door mat to the enemy. There was a time in my teenage years where everything I did worked. I made it through school easily. I got married and things were going well and then the bottom fell out. I hurt my back, lost everything financially and then lost my marriage. I picked myself up and was doing better for about five years when I got married again. Less than one year later, I was divorced again. This one took me over the edge. I didn’t want to go on anymore, but I didn’t want to lose my children. How could I turn things around? I had become accustomed to failure. Would hope be powerful enough to help me overcome? Was my heart at a place where it could still be healed or was I too far gone? Every day was agony. I moved to the big city away from those I knew. I was in a crowd of people but I was all alone. I found a church family but not even they could see the truth. They simply did not understand.

The Lord had found me when I was sixteen and I gave my heart to Him. I didn’t understand His ways, but I wanted to follow Him. I made a lot of bad decisions that weren’t so bad as far as how I was raised, but it wasn’t Father’s ways. My pride, lack of wisdom and foolishness had gotten me to where I was and the enemy couldn’t help but want to crush me, but he could only go so far. When I found this scripture, it gave me hope. I knew that the days were marked and they would come to an end. The day did come and it was strictly by the grace of God. 1 Peter 5:5 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I have now been married for almost 14 years. Restoration has come and is almost complete. My heart is almost totally healed. Yes there are scars, but the new memories overpower the bad. I have regrets but yet the Lord has and keeps restoring all the things that were stolen. I know that one day He will complete it. My children are precious and I can see how He has kept them through the years. There is a special bond.

I can say that His grace is sufficient. Paul said it first in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. So now, I do boast in Him. He is awesome. I will speak about my weakness so that He might get the glory. He cared for me when no one else did. He stayed by my side when everyone else ran away. He picked me up when I was destitute. He became and is more real to me than anyone else around me. He has set my feet on solid ground. He is helping me overcome all of the fears.

I can testify to this. He did it for me and He will do it for you. There is nothing impossible for Him with the exception that He gives us the right to choose our own destiny. We can walk away from Him and reject Him, but He still loves us. We are His creation. Ephesians 2:10 “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” He longs for us to walk with Him. He doesn’t want us to hurt. His tears fall like rain for those who turn away. He longs for His creation to turn to Him and be healed. Sadly, a lot of them accept the lies of the enemy and go their own way to their own destruction. They have a choice. All of creation shows the marvelous glory of the Lord but yet His people reject the truth. They go the way of their pride and end up totally separated from Him, the source of all life. I have found something wonderful and I pray that others do too. I have been down the road to hell. I have seen the other side and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. If you don’t know Him, ask Him to make Himself known to you. Find out what you’ve been missing. When peace comes into your heart, you will know and your whole life will change. You won’t want to go back to your old life. You will be a new person. Dare to make a change in your life.

Joseph