Can you look back and see God’s hand in your life in ways that you couldn’t see at the time? If so, then you have experienced prevenient grace. Read 2 Timothy 1:8-10. As a child, my bedroom was in the southwest corner of the house. The window faced the west, and there were no obstructions between the house and the horizon. I grew up with magnificent sunsets. My mom put a painted slice of wood on my wall next to my bedroom door. It was a painting of a young boy steering a ship through the storm while Jesus stood behind him. Jesus seemed to encourage him as he navigated the troubled waters. God’s grace was already present in my life in the painting and in the sunsets. Prevenient grace is the grace God gives us before we proclaim Jesus as Lord. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy that God’s grace was present before the beginning of time. That same grace has been available to us all along, whether we knew it or not. Even if we didn’t recognize it at the time, God’s grace guided us toward a relationship with Jesus. Through this grace, God is calling us to a holy life, a life set apart from evil and for God’s glory. The poem “Footprints in the Sand” is a wonderful reminder of God’s presence in our most difficult moments. The writer looks back on her life and notices that sometimes there were two sets of footprints, but during her most difficult times, there was only one set of footprints. Noticing the one set of footprints, she asks God, “Why did you abandon me during the most difficult times of my life?” God responded, “The one set of footprints you see is mine because it was then that I carried you.” So it is in our lives. God is with us even when we don’t see the evidence of God or feel God’s presence. Sometimes we have to take the journey and then look back to understand how God was there the whole time.

Most Holy God, we believe that you are with us even when we don’t see or feel you. Help us to keep our faith during those difficult times. Thank you for being our strength and for carrying us when we don’t have the strength to walk ourselves. Amen.