It's all I've known

Hi friends! Hope your week is going well. This week, my uncle Joe passed away. I posted a video and tribute of sorts on my social media pages, and the outpouring of love and support from family, friends and others has been tremendously appreciated.

I say all this because it got me to start thinking, which led to this week's column. Take a look at it and I hope it ministers to you. And if it does, feel free to pass it along.

Original publication date: Friday, March 27, 2015
Random Writer
It's all I've known 

In life, it’s a fact that we will face hardships. Adversity will come into our lives in its varied shapes and forms. And whoever “they” are, they say that the way we respond to those trials will change our mindset and how we live our life.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been in church. John 3:16 was plastered on the wall in big letters and “Jesus Loves Me” was sung almost every Sunday as a child. Vacation Bible Schools were attended each summer at almost every church in town that hosted one. I’ve always grown up with the realization that there is Someone much bigger than me who loves me and cares for me.

It was during my years in the church youth group when I finally accepted the fact that the God who loved me showed it in such an extraordinary fashion--by sending the only Son He had to die on a cross for the sin He didn’t commit, but the wrongdoings of all of mankind. And if that isn’t a great enough story, the best part is that His Son would come back from the dead after three days and today He lives.

Unfortunately, my growth in Christ didn’t really begin until I went to Bible college. A lot of the growth didn’t even come from attending classes (although every now and then a professor would just preach to us and truth would be spoken), but from an occasional chapel service or the fellowship of friends in the dorms or spending time with my college pastor. Those times taught me that in the midst of struggles or situations that I didn’t understand, God was there and had a purpose for it. He wanted us to grow from that situation and place our hope and plans and desires in Him. Would it hurt? Yes. But He uses the struggles as a means of strengthening us.

And my post-college life has been lesson after lesson of God teaching me. If you start following your own plans, He’ll do what He needs to do to get you on the path that He wants for you. If your time and energy are focused on something you want--even something that’s good but it’s still not what God wants for you, sometimes He’ll take it away from you so that your time and energy are focused on the Father. Like I said, it can get very painful, but the payout of following God’s will is so much better. And sometimes, a regret of sorts will resonate because His will is so great that you wish you’d followed it earlier.

It’s all I’ve known--the provision of God. I know that it’s not karma or positive energy but the power of God at work. So when I see people going through trials in life, my mind can’t wrap around how they get through it without God. And I’m not just talking about, “Oh, something out of the ordinary is happening. Let me run to God, but once things get back to normal I’ll do my own thing,” but in every aspect of life. When successes are seen or victories are attained. When loss affects the family or depression and loneliness infiltrate the mind.

It saddens me that some people fail to realize that there’s Someone they can run to. Because family and friends come and go. Drugs or alcohol or whatever you depend on are just temporary fixes. The money will eventually run out. The God who takes care of the birds of the world will care for us with such a greater devotion. I wonder how people get through life without leaning on God, but it’s something I never want to experience. Through the good and bad and everything in between, I’ve been able to run to God and I know I can rely on Him with whatever lies in store. Because if He’s willing to go to such great measures to give me the chance for an eternal life with Him, I know God will take care of me in the meantime.