Look around you, in the physical space you are right now. Look at the walls, on the shelves, in the fridge, under the covers. Look in the drawer. Or in your closet. Look out the window if you need to. In your kid’s room. Maybe even look at your own skin, your own body. Look in the mirror. Look into your very own eyes.
What evidence do you see—right now—of a miracle? What evidence do you see of the grace that you didn’t deserve, but came your way anyway?
Write out a revelry of appreciation for (a) grace, for (b) a miracle and for (c) a blessing, little or large.
Miracles surround me. God’s grace abounds. I look at my life and it is a living testimony to God’s favor. I get a front row seat not only to my own miracles, but to miracles of complete strangers whose life I am blessed to witness through work and volunteering in my community.
Four months ago, probably one of the biggest miracles of God’s grace started to unfold in my life. I reconnected and was reconciled back to my paternal grandparents. During another writing prompt of soul-searching I felt prompted to reach out to my grandmother after twenty years of no contact. I had not seen here since March 1997 at my father’s funeral. I had not talked with her since April 1997 when I called to tell her of the birth of her granddaughter. My last contact with her was a letter in late 1999 that basically say “Stop contacting me.” I had taken her at her word, and stopped making the effort.
Other than a phone all with a cousin when his father died, a meeting with my aunt when my uncle died, my aunt and cousin reaching out when my mother died, a chance meeting at the hospital with an aunt and great-uncle, and updates from my brother and niece who tried to maintain contact with my grandmother, I had no contact with my paternal family for twenty years.
So it is nothing short of a miracle that she would respond to my letter with a please come see me. She is ninety-two years young. Since that time, all of my children and grandchildren have been able to meet her and my grandfather.
My children have lost both my parents who we lived with at different points in my children’s lives. My husband’s parents have never really been a close part of their lives. His maternal grandparents were who my children considered grandparents and they have both passed also. It is a miracle that as adults my children could reunite with great-grandparents and that their children have the opportunity to meet great-great grandparents.
To me, family is the greatest blessing that God has given me. To see us come together after all these years in my miracle to focus on. I have loved to sit with my grandmother and hear stories of my childhood, my father’s childhood and her childhood. To hear about people who I never knew, and learn about events that shaped my family, that is God’s grace. It is easy to take family for granted, but I realize that God has given me this time. God’s grace brought us together and it is a miracle that I never thought was possible.
This post is prompted by
Tara-Nicholle Nelson’s 30 Day Writing Challenge for Conscious Leaders.
Restoring Voice 
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