My Tears Of Joy

  I noticed the following post from Neale Donald Walsch today and it coincided directly with an experience I had two days ago. His post was this: "A good cry can be wonderful sometimes, and sadness is nothing more than love announced. Sadness and Unhappiness are not the same thing, and it is good to remember that. And there is this: sadness cleanses the heart." I had a good cry Sunday evening and it felt cleansing. Let me explain.

     I attended a Christmas pageant Sunday night. The play was entitled "Saving Grace" and from the opening scene, tears filled my eyes because I could relate to the story from start to finish. As the play begins, a little girl is talking to her grandmother and she says that she wants her mommy to come home for Christmas. I knew right then and there what the storyline was going to be. Grace was the little girl's "mommy" and Grace had left her children with their grandparents because she couldn't care for them herself. The story was about how Grace found her way back to her family even though she had believed for a long time that she would never be able to return.

     I've been in that kind of pain before - the kind where you feel hopeless and you cannot see a way out. I didn't think the sense of doom and gloom would ever leave me. The details of my life choices may have been slightly different than the choices "Grace" made, but the feelings were exactly the same. I hurt my family in a deep way. I've come to know and love many people who have made the same kind of choices that I made and they have told me that they felt deep despair just as I did.

     The greatest news of all is that there is always hope. In the play, Grace found her way back to her family and they welcomed her with open arms. In my personal story, I decided to change the way I was living. I asked others for help and God put the perfect people in my life. They guided me out of the depths of my despair and into the land of the living. Now I'm blessed with the opportunity to help others change their life's direction and live joyfully instead of exisitng in misery.

     I completely related to the play and I'm sure that's why I cried through the whole performance. My friends asked me what was going on and I simply told them I related to the pain that Grace and her family were going through. I don't ever want to forget where I came from. I don't ever want to forget those wonderful people who shared their life experiences with me. They gave me hope. They gave me my life back. I believe God orchestrated it all. He's a great Planner. I just need to let Him run the show for me.

     The Senior Pastor asked if we believed that the miracle Grace experienced could happen in real life, in our lives. There's no doubt in my mind - it can happen, it has happened, and it will continue to happen. Thank You God! And thank you McGregor Baptist Church for a wonderful evening that brought me tears of magnificent and much-needed cleansing. I am grateful.