I grew up on a long, gravel road that stretched for at least a quarter of a mile. As a little girl, I spent a lot of time outside. I would spend hours carefully studying and collecting the rocks from our driveway, picking out the very few pieces of gravel that looked like quartz. Those pieces I would collect, wash, and spin in my rock tumbler (yes, this was such a thing in the 80’s), and I dreamed that one day I would have enough pieces to make my very own Cinderella princess shoe.

Flash forward to current day.

I live in the one house in the entire city limits that still has a gravel driveway.

Now I watch my children load the rocks from our driveway into their toy dumptrucks, take them to be washed, and set them on the window sill to dry.

One day, as I was cleaning up the mess they made, it dawned on me.

This practice of searching to find quartz in gravel is much like how it feels to find God’s grace in our daily life.

It’s often messy. It feels hard to find. It sometimes feels out of supply compared to the excess of gravel we encounter.

But the closer we look, the more grace we begin to see.

So, I named this blog Grace in the Gravel because it’s the place I’ll share how I’m actively trying to find God’s grace in all areas of my life – in motherhood, at work, in my community and marriage, and in my friendships with others .

My promise is simple: I’ll share real stories of what it’s like to walk with God in the gravel of everyday life and how I’ve encountered His grace in those very moments.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

–  Lisa