We were designed for a close, intimate relationship with God, but quite often, life gets in the way and distracts us from truly experiencing it.
Wife, mother of three, and former high school teacher Kristel Ward discovered she had a lifelong, hidden battle with fear after her four-month-old son started having seizures.
"He had a reaction to some medication that caused him to have over 70 seizures consecutively in 30 days, and these seizures often would come when he was waking up out of sleep, and so he was having some days 3-4 or more a day that we know of," said Ward. "As his mom, I felt like, and I don't use this phrase loosely, I felt like I was losing my mind."
Ward says this brought on fear and anxiety she had never experienced before.
"I believe that this issue brought those things to the surface so that [God] could address it with me and help me heal."
In her darkest times of uncertainty, in which she struggled to understand God’s plan for her family, Kristel wrote Grace to Grow: 40 Devotions to Release Anxiety and Dive into Purpose.
She says this book reminds us that God offers us “grace for our place.” Despite whatever season of life we are in, the grace of the Lord is not only freely available to us but also covers us.
Today on Connections, Kristel Ward, mother of three, former school teacher and author of Grace to Grow: 40 Devotions to Release Anxiety and Dive into Purpose, shares how we can release our anxiety and encounter God's greatness.