Mornings of Grace

Welcome! Today begins a 31-day journey through God’s Grace and Mercy. Each day we’ll discover another facet of His amazing grace, unfailing mercy, and faithful love. I hope you’ll join me each morning—and invite a friend to come along.

11,954 Mornings of Grace

“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’” — 2 Corinthians 12:9

11,954.

It looks like an ordinary number.

But to me, it’s a testimony.

It’s the number of mornings God faithfully met me with His grace while I cared for our daughter, Joy.

Not one of those mornings was easy.

Not one of them was lived in my own strength.

And not one of them did God fail to provide exactly what I needed.

When most Christians hear the word grace, they immediately think of salvation.

And rightly so.

The Bible tells us,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

We are saved entirely because of God’s undeserved favor—not because of anything we’ve earned or accomplished.

We’ll spend time exploring that beautiful truth in a future devotional.

But that’s not the kind of grace Paul is talking about in today’s passage.

When Jesus said,

“My grace is sufficient for you,”

He was speaking of sustaining grace—His moment-by-moment strength and divine enablement to accomplish what He has called us to do.

Saving grace rescues us.

Sustaining grace carries us.

I’ve experienced that sustaining grace firsthand.

For thirty-two years, I cared for our special-needs daughter while working a full-time job and raising two other active children.

Every day was a balancing act.

I went from work to sporting events, doctor’s appointments, homework, mountains of laundry, and making sure everyone had a healthy meal before the day was over.

Then came bedtime.

Or what most people would call bedtime.

I rarely slept more than three hours at a time because one ear was always listening.

Caring for a special-needs child is much like caring for an infant.

You never completely rest.

Even while you’re asleep, you’re listening for the sound that tells you you’re needed.

As I write this, I’m on vacation.

Last night, as our family sat around the dinner table sharing memories of Joy, my daughter looked at me and said,

“I don’t know how you did it, Mom.”

Then she reminded me of something I had almost forgotten.

There was a period of time when we seriously considered residential placement for Joy.

I felt completely inadequate.

In fact, I truly believed someone else could probably care for Joy better than I could.

That was where I was emotionally.

We visited three different residential facilities in the Philadelphia area. The third one seemed the most promising. We thought it might be the one. But when we pulled into the parking lot… Joy wouldn’t get out of the car.

She knew.

No one had explained why we were there. Yet somehow she understood.

My heart was breaking. I did NOT want to do this. But, I felt like a failure - anyone could do better than I was doing.

I walked inside alone while my husband, Don, stayed in the car with Joy.

During the interview, the administrator asked me one question that changed everything.

“Can Joy keep herself safe?”

I answered honestly.

“No. That would be your job if she lived here. She has no safety awareness.”

He replied,

“We can’t be with her every minute of every day to keep her safe.”

That was all I needed to hear.

I stood up and said,

“Then I guess our conversation is over. I may not be able to do everything for Joy, but I can do that much. I can do my best to keep her safe.”

I walked back to the car.

We drove home.

And I never looked back.

I tell you that story because I want you to understand something.

I wasn’t some extraordinary mother.

I wasn’t stronger than everyone else.

I wasn’t running on endless reserves of patience or energy.

I felt inadequate.

Completely inadequate.

My strength was insufficient.

His wasn’t.

That’s why I needed His grace so desperately. I needed His power, His strength, His divine enablement to do what I could never do on my own.

Looking back now brings tears to my eyes.

God never handed me a thirty-two-year supply of grace.

He met me every single morning with exactly what I needed for that day.

Then He did it again.

And again.

And again.

For 11,954 mornings, God met me with fresh grace.

He never once failed me.

So what exactly is sustaining grace?

It is far more than God’s favor.

It is God’s power working in our weakness.

It is His strength when ours has run out.

His patience when ours is exhausted.

His endurance when we feel like quitting.

His divine enablement to do what He has called us to do.

That’s why Jesus could say,

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Present tense.

Available today.

The apostle Paul pleaded with God three times to remove the thorn in his flesh.

God’s answer wasn’t what Paul expected.

He didn’t remove the thorn.

He supplied the grace.

Sometimes we ask God to change our circumstances.

Instead, He changes us in the middle of them.

Paul’s thorn remained.

My responsibilities remained.

Perhaps your burden remains.

But so does His grace.

Over the years I’ve learned something else.

People often compare themselves with others.

They wonder why someone else seems stronger… more patient… more capable of carrying unimaginable burdens.

Sometimes the comparison doesn’t even come from us. It comes from the expectations of someone we love.

My husband grew up watching his mother accomplish what most people would consider impossible. She seemed to thrive on just four hours of sleep. She was up before dawn to work in a factory, came home to set eggs, prepared meals for her family, and during the summer spent long evenings canning vegetables—often not getting to bed until after midnight.

That was the example he grew up with.

To him, that was simply normal.

I wasn’t his mother.

I didn’t have her stamina or her physical endurance, and more than once I felt as though I was falling short because I couldn’t do what she seemed able to do so effortlessly.

But God taught me something life-changing.

He never asked me to be like Don’s mother.

He simply asked me to be Joy’s.

And He never asks you to become someone else either.

God doesn’t compare us to another person’s strengths, upbringing, or abilities.

He calls each of us to the assignment He has chosen for us, and then He faithfully supplies the grace to fulfill that assignment.

Grace is assigned, not compared.

God didn’t call everyone to care for a special-needs daughter for thirty-two years.

He called me.

And with that calling came the grace to fulfill it.

Your assignment may look completely different.

Perhaps you’re caring for a spouse with dementia.

Perhaps you or a loved one is walking through cancer treatments.

Perhaps you’re grieving someone you deeply loved and lost.

Perhaps you’re raising children alone.

Perhaps you’re living with chronic pain.

Whatever God has entrusted to you…

He will also provide the grace to carry it.

He doesn’t give you my grace because He hasn’t given you my assignment.

He gives you exactly the grace you need for yours.

The world celebrates self-sufficiency.

God invites us into dependence.

His strength shines brightest when ours has reached its limit.

One day every burden will be lifted.

Every tear will be wiped away.

Every sleepless night will finally give way to perfect rest.

That day is coming.

But until then…

We live one morning at a time.

I can’t tell you what tomorrow holds.

But I can tell you this.

For 11,954 mornings, God faithfully met me with fresh grace.

He never once failed me.

And He won’t fail you either.

So when the sun rises tomorrow morning, don’t be afraid.

The same God who met me will already be waiting for you.

His grace will arrive with the morning.

It will be enough.

It always is.

———————

Tomorrow…

We’ve spent today talking about God’s grace.

But what about mercy?

Christians often use the words grace and mercy together…

Yet are they really the same thing?

If not, what’s the difference?

And why does understanding that difference matter so much?

Tomorrow we’ll begin with one simple question: What is mercy?

The answer may be richer—and far more life-changing—than you ever imagined.