I’ve always believed in prevenient grace, but I haven’t always called it that. If you ask me why I believe in prevenient grace, my answer would be based on seeing it in my own life. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason, even small things. I believe my God is sovereign and has a plan for my life. I believe I have the free will to choose my path, but He guides me. It’s up to me to listen and to follow.
When I read this post about one of the victims in Aurora, Colo., I couldn’t hold my tears. What an absolute miracle her journey has been. She had a tunnel of fluid in her brain and that’s how the bullet traveled. She was unaware of the fluid and it had never caused her any problems before. But in that theater, the bullet entered her body in an exact place to follow that fluid, saving her from any serious brain injury. The pastor who wrote the blog said this,
“It’s just like the God I follow to plan the route of a bullet through a brain long before Batman ever rises.”
I have experienced this type of grace throughout my life. It’s amazing each time I recognize it. But what’s even better are the moments I don’t recognize. The times He is moving and working and I don’t even see it. Sometimes, I feel Him working. I feel His presence, and I see small ways He is using a conversation or a relationship for the future. I felt it this past weekend when I met a new DOC friend in Nashville.
But in the comments of this blog, I saw many people questioning prevenient grace or questioning God altogether. When there is so much hurt and pain in a place or a situation, it’s easy to doubt and to question. I do it, too. But it is in those moments I recognize how very much I need God. I recognize how much I need to be in the Word because I need comfort, I need answers and I need peace.
What happened in Colorado makes no sense to me. Neither does the shooting at UAH two years ago. Neither does the tornadoes that ripped my state apart just last year. But what does make sense to me is God’s sovereignty. God didn’t cause the shooting or make the shooter pull the trigger. That, was an act of free will. That, was a person overcome with so much despair and hate, he made a horrible decision that will forever impact the world. So when people ask, why was this girl saved through prevenient grace and someone else wasn’t?
I don’t know that answer. But I know God tells us in Isaiah that He loves us enough to take lives for us, to give nations in exchange for our hearts. So I do believe that with every death in Colorado, good will come. I believe each story is important, and I believe each person’s death will bring another into God’s arms. I believe He works for the good of those who love Him. And I believe all of it is woven together for a greater purpose that none of us are privy to see.
My words are simple, but they are founded in truth. They won’t bring back a sister or a son who died inside that theater, but the words in Scripture will bring a peace and an overwhelming flood of love to those left behind. It’s my prayer that grace abounds in that town, that mercy and justice overflow the city walls. I pray for healing and for understanding because we can’t possibly understand the whys and the hows. But we can understand prevenient grace, if only through Petra’s story. “It’s just like the God I follow to plan the route of a bullet through a bran long before Batman ever rises.”