Your Stories of Grace
During Christmas Reverend Ruttan asked if there was anyone in the congregation who wanted to share their stories of grace from the holy-day season. 6 people did. Here is what they said: (Or click here to read in pdf form)
OUR NEIGHBOUR
We moved into our new house in Barrie to find one of our neighbors was ostracized by everyone on the block. The street had good reason, our neighbor lady is raising 3
boys aged 15, 18 and 22 on her own. The boys would drink and party in the past and there was need to call the police.
This same lady rents rooms in her basement in order to have enough money to pay her mortgage. The renters have produced many stories about wild activity and additional need to call the police over the years.
We moved in and saw the need to protect our investment while treating this lady reasonably. We've befriended her as best we could and we've worked at including her in any changes we were making to our property. We also looked for ways to do a little to help her.
We realized that everyone on the street cleared snow for one another but no one helped our neighbor lady so my spouse started clearing her driveway. I talked about how hard it was for me to clear snow when I was on my own, as I was with my girls for 12 years.
With all of this, we were beginning to have a little success. Our neighbor would sometimes answer us when we called hello and the renters would also say hi occasionally. I took a little Christmas gift and a card over last year.
And I was once again set to deliver a card and gift on the 24th when invitations to our Christmas Eve service became available at the church.
I really debated whether or not I should take one next door, as I had done with the other neighbors. Finally I just took it along.
It was about 6 o'clock on Christmas Eve and my neighbor was just home from her job and starting to decorate for Christmas. I wished her Merry Christmas and gave her the card and gift and turned to go and then I said ‘Oh, and there is an invitation to our Christmas Eve service tucked in under the card.’ She seemed interested but nothing more was said.
I was singing at the service that evening and saw my neighbor sitting all alone in our service. I was so surprised and felt so blessed.
I tried to catch up to her after the service but she was gone.
I felt that God does the hard stuff, all we need do is open the door the tiniest crack!
CHRISTMAS AT THE HOSPITAL
A few weeks ago, my grandmother had a terrible fall in her apartment resulting in an injury that precludes her from going home. While she waits in hospital for a long-term care bed, she has been rooming with another female patient who has some dementia. This woman has never been married and has never had any children. Her closest relative lives in Sudbury and so she has no one here to visit her. She had only the clothes she wore on the day she came to the hospital. On the white board in each room is the patient's name and ‘person to contact’ numbers. On my grandmother's board, there is my mom's name as well as my own and my sister's. On the other woman's board, it has her name only, with no other contact numbers. With having a large family and many friends, my grandma has had many visitors, each one commenting on how sad it was that there were no contacts for her roommate.
One by one, members of my family began to bring my grandma's roommate in cards, books, pajamas, a housecoat, and lounging clothes. We have "unofficially" adopted her as our own. On Christmas Day, we spent some time at the hospital helping my grandma open her own gifts and had gifts for her roommate to open as well. As we were getting ready to leave, she was in tears, overwhelmed by the kindness shown by Grandma's family.
We were wondering how God could be working when we saw my Grandma's injuries and how much pain she was in. As the days go by, it is quite clear that my God placed my Grandma in the hospital not only for her own safety and health, but for this other woman as well, so that she could feel that people care about her, so that she could feel God's compassion and love through us. (My Grandma has told her all about Jesus and she asked Him into her heart!)
It was truly the highlight of my Christmas.
PAYING IT FORWARD
There is a single Mom that lives on our street. She has four very young children. I marvel at her endurance and selflessness. I was standing at my window the other day watching the snow fall like cotton balls and my eyes and ears were caught by a snowblower in motion in her driveway. Another neighbour was snowblowing her driveway. It was in the middle of the day and the single mom wasn't home. She is more than likely clueless as to which kind neighbour "paid it forward". It was heartwarming to know that her neighbour would go out of his way to snowblow her driveway without hope of any recognition. His sole goal was to help her. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
GRACE IN DANGEROUS PLACES
Vennie is a young woman in her early 20's. I first meet her 4 years ago when she was working as a tutor at a library in Moosoli Uganda. Her life has been very difficult since that first meeting. 3 years ago her farther died suddenly leaving her family with little ability to feed themselves. Six children were still at home. She managed to complete her education and graduated from University as a teacher. However due to political corruption no jobs were available for individuals from her tribe. The one bright spot were the gifts she received from the community in recognition of her graduation.
When I saw her again 2 years ago she wanted me to meet with her and two other recent graduates. There was obvious excitement. These 3 youth had banded together to make a difference where it was needed most. They had gone into a part of their Country that has been devastated by war and disease. A dangerous place. A place where life is cheap and most children have no parents let alone clothes and food to eat. They have identified 100 orphaned children as their personal commitment to making their world a better place. They have individually pledged to provide every month one critical item for these children. Their own lack of resources seems insignificant in comparison. Vennie's only way to meet this pledge was to sell all of her gifts from her graduation and use these funds. An act of amazing grace and living as God has intended us all to live.
The most humbling thing for me was that she found nothing noteworthy in her or her fellow students’ behavior. It was just the right thing to do. They wanted to speak to me to get ideas on how their organization needed to evolve to allow their group to grow exponentially without creating the normal layers of bureaucracy. They weren't satisfied with what they were doing! It wasn't good enough!
......An update on Vennie's journey: Last year she was elected to the equivalent to our Provincial Government. The youngest women ever. It will be interesting to see what happens next in God's plan for her.
UNEXPECTED BLESSINGS
I’m not sure if this is the kind of story you’re looking for, but here goes. I don’t really have one specific thing in mind, but just some observations and feelings. The way I think of it grace is the blessings we give and get. Often surprised. So much grace is not something you see. But you benefit from it and it goes on all the time. We say grace at meals, but lately I feel like I should be saying it several times a day.
I got an e-mail from a friend telling me that he wanted to reconnect after a long time apart. I watched as a family feud started to calm after a pretty bad time. I see good things happening at our church. I had a pretty serious health problem that almost took me ‘out of commission’ but have come through it, and feeling pretty good. I’ve tried a little thing each day where I just say thank you more to people who have themselves gone out of their way for someone. It changes how you see things.
So this isn’t anything “big”. But there’s lot of grace. As I reread this email over again, I notice that some of these things are only seen as grace in when looking back, in hindsight. And I think that’s fine. His plan is bigger than us. That’s why, I think, grace is so “amazing.” You don’t always understand it, which is part of the reason it can be so strange and mysterious. It’s just out there doing its thing.
“BY THE GRACE OF GOD”
In 2011, fire destroyed a family member’s home. They lost many treasures. By the grace of God no one was hurt and all family members got out safely. We thank God for their safety.
We lost many friends and family who passed away from this earthly life. By God’s grace my husband and I still enjoy our life and the challenges “aging” brings. We give thanks to God.
2011 was a stressful year, but by the grace of God we survived a “wrong” committed by a person of disrespect trying to get something for nothing. God intervened and gave us the strength to defend what we believed was our right. We thank God for being present in our lives.
By God’s grace we have lived to see the development and growth of this church. It has been an exciting part of our lives.
I pray that God will grant me patience, and wisdom to do His will during 2012.
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Thank you to everyone who took time to share your story of grace
from the Advent and Christmas Season!
May we all be uplifted by God’s grace at work in his children.
Peace be with you. Amen and Amen.
