“The shocking grace from God about any collapse is this: the fall is already part of your rebuilding. God is at work in the flood. His grace on your life cannot be stopped by rising waters, unstable parts of your life, or even by something falling completely apart. God’s grace can and will reach you anywhere.”- Alli Patterson
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”- 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
In Chapter 12 (“Rebuilt on the Rock”), the final chapter of How to Stay Standing, Alli Patterson talks about sinkholes formed in a region around the Dead Sea. As the water level of the Dead Sea has dropped, all the salt in this lowest elevation on earth gets left behind in the surrounding land. As a result, when fresh water comes, sinkholes develop.
Because the fresh water from the Jordan River soaks into the salt-filled earth and dissolves the salt. Consequently, this process creates pockets of air below the surface of the ground where the salt used to be. Eventually, the pockets of air get so big they can’t hold anything up anymore.
Therefore, Alli observes:
“A sinkhole in our own lives looks like a similar story of nothing, nothing, nothing, and then a sudden collapse, but it really isn’t’. . . . Most collapses in our own lives are . . . caused by something going on below the surface for much, much longer.
But the good news is that it’s a freshwater flood that created the sinkhole. . . . When something in our lives collapses, God is already at work! He has been slowly flooding our lives. He wants to dissolve anything that isn’t going to help us stay standing. . . . The flood and the sinkhole are part of your rebuilding.
In conclusion, Alli underscores, your life storm also brings you the living water of Jesus. And getting there in the here and now demonstrates the kindness and mercy of God for you. The strongest foundations often come from rising waters and sinkholes!
Today’s question: How do you respond to the shocking grace from God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the annotated bibliography of How to Stay Standing
