This post was first published a few years ago but after reading it I decided to update with some new thoughts.
I read something thought provoking from Debbie Macomber’s book God’s Guest List. I have been served thoughts to chew on regularly as I read. She wrote, “The gift of being challenged and profoundly changed is a gift we often resist with every fiber of our being.”
I totally get that. I never really thought of it as a gift, however, more like an opportunity in disguise. But I do get it. I get the resisting part, though I’m not sure why I spend so much time and energy doing so. During these times of being challenged we get to see what we’re made of and where we stand in our beliefs. And when I look at it that way, it is indeed a gift.
She said a friend once asked her, after she had dealt with a particularly challenging time with a child (or two), “Do you think any of this took God by surprise?”
Yeah, I totally get that too. Though I don’t understand it, I am resigning myself to the fact that His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. I know this to be true even if I don’t always act like it is.
It like what Kyle Idleman (the teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church) says even though life-changing and devastating events catch us by surprise, it’s been circled on God’s calendar since the beginning of time. God knew all along and He isn’t surprised one bit. I find comfort in that. I know I am not alone; there is a power greater than I who can restore me to sanity even in the midst of chaos.
There are many things in my life I would do differently if I had the chance; choices I would re-do if I could.
I can’t.
So I resign myself to that and I am choosing to embrace the gift of change…with a little resistance thrown in for good measure.
What challenges have you faced and what has helped you through?
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