Time for Grace (17 page)

This was a very emotional and personal book for me. Twenty years ago, when the field of neonatology was young, my niece was born a day short of her twenty-third week of gestation. There seemed to be no hope, and doctors thought there was no way she would be born alive. They had no intention of trying to save her. Little Kelly had other ideas. At only one pound three ounces, she was all fight. She fought for breath and gave the astounded doctors no choice but to reward her fighting spirit by taking an unheard-of chance. Eleven and a half months later, Kelly made the six-o’clock news when she came home. She wore Cabbage Patch preemie clothes because there were no baby clothes small enough for her. Her road hadn’t been easy and wouldn’t be for some time. But “quit” was never in her vocabulary. She is the living embodiment that proves nothing is impossible for the Lord.

In
Time for Grace,
Kip travels his life alone by choice, and Sarah, who wants a family, seems destined to be alone. Kip too easily accepts his fate, and Sarah rages against it. They both had a lot to learn. But don’t we all?

It is perhaps the most difficult lesson we learn, this leaning on God and trusting him and his secret plans for our lives. We forget that He can do anything. All we need is to have faith. So on days when going forward seems overwhelming, we should all remember Grace, who is the fictional account of our Kelly with all her one pound three ounces of fight. If she could set medical records just so she could have a shot at life, anything is possible for the rest of us. And if God is in our corner, He’ll do more than half the work. We just have to believe.

1. Sarah struggled to understand why God let certain things happen to her. What were they, and why do you think God allows difficult circumstances in the lives of His people?
   
2. How did Sarah’s anger at God hold her back in life? In her relationships?
   
3. Sarah felt guilty for resenting her parents and for her anger at God. How was she finally able to let that go?
   
4. How did Sarah’s anger at God make her life harder? Why doesn’t God want us to feel such crippling guilt as Sarah felt? How is it contrary to God’s plan for us to hold on to guilt? What is the danger of holding on to guilt?
   
5. Kip prayed for God to send someone into Sarah’s life, and it clearly turned out to be him, yet he resisted. When Sarah married Scott, she had doubts but let him persuade her. How can we know if a circumstance comes from God or from our own desires? Does God always choose the hardest course for us or does it just seem that way since we don’t know where the easier path will lead?
   
6. Was Miriam wrong to throw Kip and Sarah together? It turned out to be what God wanted for them, but was Miriam working from her own wishes for her brother’s happiness, following the leading of the Lord, or did her interference get in the way of what God wanted? How was she wrong when it all turned out the way she thought it should?
   
7. There are several times during the book when Sarah thought God was punishing her for her anger and lack of faith. If God is all good, would He punish us here on earth? Or does He use tragedies, accidents and illness to lead us back to Him? There is little chance that Sarah would have met Kip had Grace not been born so prematurely. Does He use bad events for good, as He seems to have with Grace’s birth?
   
8. Kip’s faith was strong, but did he put his faith in God as far as his life and death were concerned?
   
9. Do you think God intervenes in our lives? Do you think He intervened with the near plane crash to make Kip see his mistake and to ultimately prolong Kip’s life?
   
10. How did Kip’s upbringing show itself in the way he chose to live his life? And how did the way Sarah grew up show in the things she wanted from life?
    
11. How much were Sarah and Kip affected by trying to keep control over their lives?