by contributing writer, Kristina Dyck

I have been thinking about grace a lot this summer. When grace shows the most in our lives, and when we see it the most in the lives of others.

A few of weeks ago a couple I know had a new baby, their precious baby came too soon though and was only with them for an hour before going to be with Jesus.

As a bystander I was wrecked, I sat in my car listening to music just weeping for them, I had to sneak out of church a week later because I was sobbing again, even as I write this the tears threaten to pour over.

I drove to meet some girlfriends the day I heard the news, listening to “Your Grace Finds Me” by Matt Redman and sobbing for them and their children and their pain. I started to think about how Grace is most evident in the ugliest moments of our lives.

As a believer we can see grace in our lives everyday in so many ways and they are all beautiful, but grace never shows up so beautifully as it does in those devastating moments. The moments when a regular person would fall apart, when a regular person would get angry and yell at God. Those are the moments when grace shines so brightly it can’t be ignored.

When the person who should be destroyed with grief is still praising the Lord.

When the woman who just received the news that there is nothing else they can do for her cancer and she has only weeks left is singing praises and encouraging others.

When the man who just lost his whole family because of his faith is still telling everyone he meets about Jesus.

When the thing that should make a person bitter actually draws them closer to God; grace is never so beautiful as it is then.

It was, after all, one of these ugly moments when Grace won. In that moment when the perfect God-incarnate, beaten so badly he was unrecognizable, cried “it is finished” and conquered sin and showed us what Grace is in the biggest way possible.

Kristina Dyck currently lives in Durham with her family. She is a missionary kid who married another missionary kid and wants to serve the Lord wherever He leads which is in Grey Bruce right now.  She has been an active part of HMC for 3 years. She is a photographer, birth doula, and art enthusiast. You can find her over on her own blog, Unashamed Grace.