Why Such Grace?

Jennifer Rothschild is blind.

“Aww,” you think.

Don’t. It would only be a waste of time for you to feel sorry for her. Sure, there have been times when Jennifer has felt she’s “drowning in a Niagra of hopelessness.”  But, she’s learned that blindness—and other difficult or tragic circumstances we all encounter—are not what define us. Rather, they refine us. 

As she told us this morning,

Blindness is not what makes me broken. And your circumstances are not what make you broken. They are simply what God uses to introduce you to your own brokenness. Don’t resist that which God has used/is using to shape you into a true woman.

And yet we do resist them. I do, anyway. I so resonated with Jennifer’s comment that,

I want to be the one helping others. I want God to need me much more than I need God.

But sometimes, God opens our eyes to the reality that—rather than being the priest, Levite, or Samaritan—we are the beaten up, half-dead person lying by the side of the road. We’re the ones who need the Rescuer.

A major turning point took place in Jennifer’s life one day as she was playing the piano (yes, she is one tenacious, talented woman!). As she was asking God “Why does my friend have to have cancer? Why do I have to be blind?” it was as if a cross appeared before her. Suddenly her questions transitioned to “Why grace?!”

As she said this morning,

It may not be well with your soul, but when you come to the cross, you see that it is divinely unfair and amazingly equipping that you’re allowed to walk with grace. 

She closed by singing a beautiful song. Here are just a few of the lines that spoke to my heart (not necessarily in the right order):

You took me to your cross,
You cried all my tears.
You hid me in your tomb,
You crucified my fears.

 

Why, why this grace?
Why, why such peace?
Why, why such love?

 

Crucify my fears,
I’ll praise you in my pain.
You are a God who cries,
You are a Savior who died.
I can trust You with why.

 

How long has it been since you’ve been to the cross? Since His grace has gripped your heart? Since you’ve asked, “Why grace?!”