Sometimes God reaches out to me in the most unlikely places. Earlier this year, the pressures of life and work were really getting to me. I’d been going through a season of extra-heavy responsibilities in the church I pastor. Some of them were simple growing pains, but others involved tough conversations with people I cared about. My anxieties were getting me down.
My wife, Margi, saw it happening. She came to me one afternoon and gently said I’d been crabby and she could see it. “What’s going on?” she said. “How can I help?” We had a great conversation, and I realized I needed to adjust my attitude. No excuses. I prayed. I asked God to remind me that the pressures I faced were never greater than the grace He supplied.
Later that week, my prayer was answered—God spoke to me from a humble bag of frozen French fries. I mean that literally. Once again, I was super busy and feeling overwhelmed but needed to make a quick stop at my local grocery store on the way home.
I stood, holding a bag of fries in the frozen food aisle of my grocery store. But God had turned it into a sanctuary. There, printed on the same bag of fries I had purchased countless times before, was something I’d never noticed. A Bible verse. The manufacturer of this brand actually prints Isaiah 30:18 on the back of its bag. God met me in a special way right then, right there. The noise of the store faded away as God gave me just the reminder I needed. No matter how great my anxiety, He longs to be gracious to me and rises to show compassion to me.
Gracious Father, remind me again and again that Your grace always exceeds my need.
—Bill Giovannetti
