Working in a small town in Latin America, a woman felt despair. She was experiencing marital problems, as well as conflicts with people she worked with.
Without warning, an earthquake struck one day. In those moments of panic and fear she ran with other people to the relative safety of a garden plaza as buildings shattered and dust billowed.
“For those moments I saw everything so clearly,” she recalls, “how I could become so much kinder to my husband, how other relationships could work out. In an instant — and with such gratitude — I saw how it would be so easy for me to turn things around.”
In that dramatic moment this woman had glimpsed how the brokenness in her life could be mended. At that moment she saw clearly how she could bring about healing in her life. At that moment it was as if God had spoken to her in a most dramatic way. She had a personal epiphany from God. She had found herself in the presence of God.
The truth of God comes into our lives in such a dramatic fashion that we can scarcely deny that we have been in His presence.
Thanks to Arthur G. Ferry, Jr.
My Commentary:
This story reminds us that clarity often arrives when our illusions collapse. In the ordinary flow of life, resentment hardens, misunderstandings deepen, and despair quietly convinces us that nothing can change.
We live surrounded by noise — our own justifications, our grudges, our fears. Then suddenly, the ground shakes. What once felt solid crumbles, and for a moment, everything false falls away.
In the chaos of the earthquake, this woman did not discover something new about her life — she rediscovered what had been true all along. Love was possible. Kindness was within reach. Healing did not require permission from others; it required a change of heart. Fear stripped life down to its essentials, and gratitude opened her eyes to grace.
God often speaks this way — not always through earthquakes, but through moments when our defenses fail. A diagnosis. A loss. A narrow escape. A sudden awareness of how fragile everything is.
In those moments, truth becomes simple and urgent. What matters becomes unmistakable.
The tragedy is not that such moments are rare. The tragedy is that they fade. The earth stops shaking, routines return, and clarity is slowly buried again under habit and pride. What was seen so clearly becomes easy to forget.
Finding Jesus does not always happen in calm reflection. Sometimes it happens when the ground gives way and we realize that what we thought was unmovable never truly was.
Grace meets us there — not to frighten us, but to awaken us.
The question is whether we will live as though the ground is still shaking — choosing love, forgiveness, and healing while we can.
What was the “earthquake” in YOUR life when God came to YOU and helped YOU to see everything clearly?
SUNSETS ARE PROOF THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, EVERY DAY CAN END BEAUTIFULLY!
Please share these words with someone younger than yourself. Please listen to my Podcast.
