God's Grace by Sylvia Bambola

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Heritage Publishing, 2015

When that scripture raced through my mind I knew it was from the Lord. I had not been thinking about God’s word or even about God, for that matter, as I stood in the hospital confronting the reality that my beloved husband of nearly forty-four years was losing his battle with lung cancer.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Again that thought filled my mind. But doubt filled it, too. Was God’s grace really going to be sufficient in the coming days, months and years as I struggled to carve out a life without my beloved Vincent? My husband and best friend? You can’t live with someone for over forty years without becoming “one.” Time has a way of balancing out the differences. The best of our individual personalities complimented the other, the worst became grounds out of which patience, understanding, and kindness were forged. But two becoming one meant a tearing apart when only one was left. And tearing hurts.

When the inevitable happened, there was a flurry of activity: funeral arrangements, memorials to put together, people coming and going, out of town visitors. The activity blunted the pain. But when it was all over the real business of healing and moving on, began.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Family and friends can’t hold your hand forever. In the midnight hour, when alone, lonely, and floundering, I discovered there is God. And every time I reached out for Him, He never failed me. He’d pull me from the brink of that pit of self-pity, and kept me from sliding down a slippery slope from which it’s so difficult to escape. But here’s the deal: I had to make that decision each and every time; the decision whether to call upon God, whether to remind myself that His grace is indeed sufficient, or whether I would indulge my feelings. And when I chose “grace” it was miraculous. I’d find myself praising God, find myself really believing that my life wasn’t over, that He still had a plan and purpose for me. And doing this wasn’t a denial of my feelings, rather it was an admission that God did all things well, that His ways were higher than mine, and that I could trust Him.

I’d like to say this was easy. That reminding myself of the scripture God gave me made all the hurt and difficulties go away. It did not. Often this was a moment by moment decision. But as time when on, it became less so. My husband has been with the Lord for nearly four and half years now and still I’m finding God’s grace sufficient. It’s there for me whenever I enter an arena with all couples and I’m conspicuously a solo, when family birthdays come up, during our wedding anniversary date, etc., and throughout it all God continues to pull me into a joyful present and a promising future.

But aside from understanding that God’s grace is sufficient, I’ve learned that every loss can be a testimony to God’s grace in our life. And since we all have or will experience some kind of loss during our earthly journey, we can rejoice in this truth. God is wonderful and cares so deeply for each of us. So when hurtful difficulties arise, and they will, remember God’s promise:

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Author Bio:

Sylvia Bambola

Born in Romania, Sylvia Bambola lived her early years in Germany. At seven she relocated with her adopted family and saw the Statue of Liberty and America for the first time. But the memory of those years in post World War Germany inspired her to write Refiner’s Fire, which won a Silver Angel Award, and was a Christy Finalist. Publishers Weekly, in their starred review, called Bambola’s latest novel, The Salt Covenants, “transcendent” and “beautifully written” while Library Journal says it “adeptly depicts a time and place not often explored in Christian historical fiction.”

To Buy:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0989970779/

Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/1120995842?ean=9780989970778

Books-a-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780989970778?id=6217838042591