As I was driving down a familiar stretch of road near my home the other day, tears were spilling down my face. I was reminded that three years earlier, at that very same location, I had been shedding tears as I drove. Even though I was at the same location, accenting the event with my tears just as I had before, it was 3 years into the journey and my tears were spilling down my face for a vastly different reason. 
   You see, three years earlier as I steered my truck  along that same section of road, I had been crying out to God that releasing my son to the mission field was more than I could bear. I remember saying, “God, this is too hard, I just can’t do this!” You see, my son had only been gone for about 3 days and I could only cry out to God in pain at that point.

 So why the recent tears?

   As I was driving that day, I began to ponder the journey I had been on and all the promises God had kept.   I began to recall some of the promises with which God had sustained me during those difficult days 3 years earlier, like: 
 1) this will not overwhelm you
 2) my grace will be sufficient
3) I will deliver you from all your fears.  
   I began praising God that I while I had suffered the pain of releasing a most beloved son to obey the call of God upon his life, God had tenderly and lovingly prevented that pain from overwhelming me.. Because of His grace, I lived life free of the bondage that holding on to such pain would have produced. God indeed, had delivered me from all my fears. That moment of praise spilled over into tears for I could not contain the wonderfulness of it all.
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, Isaiah 25:1
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