Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

Joanie Yoder was in her early thirties when she experienced what she calls a downward trip in her spiritual life. She was a dedicated wife and a Christian worker at her husband’s side when she began to break down.

When she finally hit rock bottom, she made an unexpected discovery. The rock upon which she had been thrown was none other than Christ himself, the “Rock of Ages.”

Cast upon Jesus alone, she was in a position where she could begin to build the rest of her life again. She later wrote: “My rock-bottom experience became a turning point and one of the most vital spiritual developments of my life.”

Joseph Parker, the famous pastor of London’s City Temple in the late nineteenth century, went through a crisis that hit him hard. He testified afterward: “I have touched the bottom, and it is sound.”

Deuteronomy 33:27 tells us that the eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are his everlasting arms. G. Campbell Morgan points out that this verse means that even when we are at the bottom, the Lord is underneath us to hold us up in his arms.