I have a new mantra for life. Either you trust the Lord or you don't. It's easy to say, not quite as easy to do. Life is not a scattered array of coincidences stretched beneath our feet leading in a million different directions. Everything happens for a reason. Truth, sometimes we don't know or don't understand what those reasons are. There may be some things we won't fully understand until we leave this world for the next. My old seminary teacher used to describe it this way. "It's my bookshelf for heaven. Whenever I have a question about something, i put it on my bookshelf. After I die, I'll open up the books and ask."
From a personal stand point, people have asked me "what was the reason why your mother died when you were 18?" People have asked me questions along the lines of "why did the holocaust happen?" "Why did a baby have to die in a car accident?" "Why were so many killed in the tsunami?" I don't have the answers to all of that. What I know is based on what I've been taught growing up, what I've experienced in my life and what I believe to be true. I've had too many instances in my life where things just lined up for the best. People came into my life at the exact moment I needed them. Hope was restored to me in moments where I thought I couldn't go on. Peace enveloped me in moments of deepest despair and grief. And love pushed it's way through even the darkest and dreariest of days. I've seen many miracles in my life. And i've learned that God works on his own time table. We can't even begin to comprehend all that he can comprehend. There are times we are given glimpses but he knows what is best for us. He will not lead us astray. I take comfort in that.
I do trust God. I trust that he knows what he is doing and that he knows what I am capable of doing, what I am capable of becoming. Sometimes in life, you just have to throw your hands up and say "okay God. You take over." it's like the Carrie Underwood song 'Jesus, take the wheel" "because I can't do it on my own." I would never want to try and live life-go through life alone. What a marvelous truth to know that I don't have to. Either you trust God or you don't. You can look at what you have to go through in life and think "what is God trying to teach me?" One lesson I'm still working on is patience. Using faith as a tool, I'm getting better at that principle. Things happen at their proper times. You cannot force life. Besides, think of all the things you'd miss. "life is what happens when we're busy making other plans." So, take a breather. Look at the beauty all around you. "and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance..."
C
