"Ever After"

 Before your heart was broken,

And before you knew regret,

When all the days before you,

Seemed promising, you bet.

You thought that love would find you,

And just like what you read,

A happy ever after,

Would come just like they said.

But life came unexpected,

Got tortuous and mean,

You made selfish choices,

With their consequence unseen.

You tried to do the best you could,

And never gave up hope,

But many times you found yourself,

At the end of that old rope.

You blamed yourself for everything,

That ever did go wrong,

And wondered if you’d ever find,

A place where you belonged.

You prayed and read the Good Book,

You worked and tried to save,

You found the Holy Spirit,

Blessed everything you gave.

And now those joints are aching,

And less your energy,

But still the grace you’re taking,

To seize the day and be,

The one who overcame things,

And trusted God to give,

His happy ever after,

That you find now you live.

Contentment with His blessing,

And a love to share life with,

A brand new opportunity,

To rise up and to give,

The weathered testimony,

Of one who sometimes fell,

Went through many valleys,

And came through lots of hell.

To find God works in all things,

For His glory and our good,

We planned to do things better,

But His grace works like it should.

To make us strong in weakness,

And use every mistake,

To teach us and to use us,

So others from us take,

The hope that they are needing,

To encourage and to be,

Someone they can turn to,

When it’s way too dark to see.

So come on with me, brother,

And, sister, you come, too,

Life is not yet over,

There are great things yet to do.

And when the shadows lengthen,

And the Good Lord says we’re through,

An eternal ever after,

By grace will then come true.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness…” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)

Sometimes we don’t realize grace is all we need until grace is all we have. No one likes to go through difficulty and trouble. Everyone has some regret concerning past mistakes. Some of us become bitter and disillusioned when our “happy ever after” eludes us. But grace is still the answer. And remember, this is the answer that came when Paul asked the Lord to take away his “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever it was, Paul wanted it gone! Why? Because, like any thorn, it was sticking him! How many times have we asked the Lord to remove something painful, when grace became God’s only answer? It happens more often than not, I think. But living and walking by grace really can give us peace and contentment if we learn to cooperate with it.

Lord, give us the grace that is sufficient for every need, and help us to cooperate with it, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Steve Boaldin, artofthecowboy.com, used by permission. Thanks, Steve, and God bless you