I was planning to do something special for my wife for our wedding anniversary on November 10, 2015. She enjoys French cooking and baking, and we had been talking about traveling to Europe together. So I thought this would be a good time for us to travel to Paris to celebrate our anniversary.

I talked to a travel agent and set up a trip leaving on the Wednesday of the week of our anniversary, and returning a few days later on Sunday. I planned on spending our time lounging in Paris and spending a day in the countryside.

However, I forgot to factor in the Grace Revolution tour we were supposed to attend. This tour was going to happen on the same weekend. My wife did not remind me about the event since I had secretly planned the Paris trip to surprise her. Nevertheless, for some reason, I told her about the trip three weeks in advance (something I usually don’t do). She quickly pointed out the clash in schedules and I managed to postpone the trip to springtime.

Little did we know that the terrorist attack in Paris would happen on the same week of our anniversary—on that Friday afternoon to be exact. We could have been there. Instead, we were safe and sound miles away, watching the entire horrific attack unfold on the news.

Over the last year, Pastor Prince had preached about God’s divine protection quite a bit. When the incident happened, my wife and I felt that God had protected us by placing us at the right place at the right time.

We have also been learning from Pastor Prince’s messages about not taking God’s protection for granted. So we have started sharing with our boys about how our heavenly Father protects us, and have begun thanking the Lord for His covering and protection through prayer together. Ultimately, it was grace that kept us out of harm’s way. I’m not sure how close we would have been to the horrible attacks had we made the trip, but I do know that God’s grace kept us safe. In fact, we were blessed beyond just being protected. We were having an enjoyable time with our family, singing praises to God with the New Creation Church worship team, and learning more about grace from Pastor Prince in Dallas!

Through attending Grace Revolution Church in Dallas, my wife and I have also learned to declare “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” This has given us a sense of how much God loves us and wants to bless us. By taking our right standing in Christ, we found ourselves able to simply trust and rest in God’s goodness for us. Believing that we are the righteousness of God in Christ is also what healed our broken marriage. Before that, my wife and I were going through a rough time in our relationship.

Being able to rest in all that Jesus has done, and being able to hear and meditate on the Word has been the best thing for us.  He truly is the vine and we are the branches. Pastor Prince's sermon—Let Go And Flow In The Vine Life—was instrumental to us learning this. Now we know that in every situation and circumstance, Christ is supplying our every need.  He is the vine that will keep us supplied and where we need to be.

Knowing that “if it matters to me, it matters to God” was the last piece of the puzzle.  We learned that there is nothing too small or too inconsequential to the Lord.  Neither is there anything too big for Him to tackle for us. Hearing this truth has made everything simple, and has set us free.