I hate writing bios. Hate, hate, hate them.

I blab on shamelessly (and mercilessly) about all kinds of personal stuff on my blog, so it’s not like I care too much what people think about me. It’s that in a bio you are supposed to give people the important parts of your life. You’re supposed to say, “This is my area of expertise and these are my credentials–any fool can see that I’m worth listening to.”

So what do you say when you quit school three weeks into your junior year of high school and never went back? (To be fair to myself, I did graduate before I quit. Only because my mother made me, though.) I usually make a “college of hard knocks” remark. I was educated on the mean streets, baby.

The truth is that I’m uneducated, unattractive, and uninteresting.

heh heh

I’m also cracking myself up. What a bio!

But, hey, this is a blog about God’s mercy. And I really am something of an expert in that department.

He saved me out of a life of drug addiction and all around ugly living. Some of my friends never made it through those years. Some killed themselves. Some died of overdose. Some died in accidents. Some were murdered. Some are still stuck in addiction, half-dead, waiting for the end of the struggle.

Why did God yank me back from the brink? And why has he so patiently taught me to trust him over the years? Why has he brought me back every time I’ve strayed? Why has he been so faithful to his unfaithful child?

He’s merciful.

When I set out random facts about myself in 2010, I see that everything comes back to God’s mercy:

• I’m a Christian. Not a very good one, but, by the grace of God and the blood of Christ, I’m forgiven and cleansed and translated out of the kingdom of darkness into his marvelous light.
• I’m a mother. I have two gorgeous teens–a son and daughter–both adopted as babies. God is so gracious. He just dropped these kids in my lap. After six years of praying, he gave us two babies in one year. I named them both versions of John (Shane and Evon) because John means…um…”God is gracious.”
• I’m a widow. And again, I have to say God is gracious. I’m overwhelmed with God’s timing and mercy and comfort. Death is an enemy, but for my husband death had very little sting–he was happy to the end. So his leaving us had very little sting for the kids and me.
• I’m a daughter. I take care of my mom (89). Dad died last year and I was able to take care of him the last couple of years of his life.  And I know I sound like a guitar player with only one string, but, yes, God is gracious. Twenty-odd years ago I worked in a nursing home and I used to pray every day that I would be able to take care of my parents when they needed care. And here I am seeing an answer to those prayers. I stand amazed at the path upon which God led me from Alaska to Georgia so I could care for my parents.Who else gets to stay home from work and take care of the family? What a merciful God.

When I look at my life, before Christ and after Christ, I see a pattern of weakness, rebellion, stumbling, injurious behavior, and stupidity.

How am I still alive? Why didn’t God snuff me out long ago? Why has he protected me all these years?

He’s slow to anger, abounding in love.  There’s no other explanation.