abundantlife

Meet Julie Sunne, a beautiful mama and woman of incredible faith. She has experienced loss on a level that takes my breath away.Ā Just this weekend someone I love experienced this loss and I was blessed personally by Julie’s story.

Restoring My Dance

Julie Sunne

Long ago, I thought I knew what an abundant life looked like.

I believed abundance rested with the way my days played out in this dance of life.

A ā€œgoodā€ life as defined by an enjoyable job, adorable family, comfortable home, relative health was an abundant life.
Yet it didn’t take long for that definition to be shattered and for me to be left grasping for something that made sense.

As a young wife, my dance through life was interrupted when my husband and I experienced the first of five miscarriages. Pain and grief engulfed my heart.Ā Any pretense of an abundant life quickly disappeared.

Life became a roller coaster of emotions. Gratitude at the birth of each live child; bitterness at the loss of each unborn.Ā Then our third child and only daughter was diagnosed with significant lifetime disabilities.

The music quit. The dance ended.

That is until God used Rachel, my little blessing in disguise, to point me to the source of all true abundance.

juliesunne

It was then I started letting the God of grace take the lead in my life’s dance and become the well-spring of my joy and peace.

An abundant life began to make sense in a new and exciting way.

I began to understand that Jesus Christ didn’t just die on the cross to secure my salvation (as incredible as that is), but to also give me an earthly life of abundance.

He died so I could thrive, not only in my future heavenly home, but also in my present broken and difficult circumstances.

Let me repeat that: God wants me (and you) to flourish right in the midst of my (your) hard!

But honestly, knowing that doesn’t make it instantly easy. My days are not suddenly rosy. I will still never get to hold my 5 unborn children, and Rachel (16) will need special care all of her life.

My day’s blessings still too easily get lost in its happenings.

But the truth remains: God’s “mercies never end” (Lamentations 3:22) and His “grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 10:9), and He is enough.

The promise of joy and peace and meaning in the midst of life’s brokenness through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ—such a gift!

Now as I daily gather my manna and refocus on the Source of all goodness, it is an honor to share the truth and blessings of this abundant life with others as well.

I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10b).

Julie

Check out Julie’s blog