And This is Life . . .

There really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes life goes really well, and other times it's just really hard. Some people would say God is rewarding or punishing you, depending on how things are going, but I've never really bought into that thinking. (There are entirely too many holes in that theory.)

Of course, I'm not talking about the consequences we have from things we've done. The cause and effect stuff is pretty self-explanatory. I'm talking about the stuff that is out of our control.... we've done the best we can and things just either go well for us or they don't.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.

That verse brings me such incredible comfort, peace, and even hope as I go through the ups and downs of life. Let's face it, we live in a very imperfect world. If bad things aren't happening to us, they are certainly happening to someone we know. And we can say the same thing about the good things... if things aren't going well for us, they're going well for someone! But I think we do ourselves a great disservice when we start making comparisons. What am I doing wrong that things aren't going as well for me as they are for them?

You may not be doing anything wrong. It's all part of living life. The older I get the more I think we put entirely too much weight on "how things are going". Now certainly I don't hope for things to go badly, but if they do I KNOW that God will cause something good to come of it. One way or another He will use it to shape me a little more into the person I was always meant to be.

You see, I'm a work in progress. I remember the younger years when it seemed so important to know a lot . . . or at least to appear to know a lot. I don't live under that kind of pressure anymore. Somewhere along the way, I came to love the journey. I love the ups and the downs, and I love the fact that there are so many things I don't know yet. What fun would it be if there were nothing else to discover? And while I would be lying if I said the down times weren't hard for me (they are), at the same time there's an incredible anticipation for what God is going to show me in all of it. Have you ever been down-trodden and excited at the same time? For my personality type, it's the emotional equivalent of parachuting out of an airplane (which I've always wanted to do, by the way.) All the way down you must be asking yourself how the good could be so bad and the bad could be so good!

When I was going through the most difficult time of my life, God spoke something to my heart that has stuck with me through all these years. All my prayers were basically begging God to get me through that time. Or, more accurately, past it. I just wanted to get out of that place, out of that depression. One night, as I was crying out to God, He comforted me with something that I would never have thought would comfort me. He said, "Don't spend so much time hoping for the day things are different that you miss out on what I am showing you today." After that, I started paying more attention. And during the months that followed, I learned more about God, His love, His faithfulness, and His strength than I had ever learned before or since. Those months solidified our relationship. Now I KNOW that no matter what turn life takes, He will be with me. I KNOW there is nothing I could ever do or say that would cause Him to give up on me. I KNOW his love is deeper and stronger than any of us could even begin to imagine. And I KNOW nothing could ever, ever, ever diminish the love I feel for Him.

And those are really great things to know.