
As I was thinking of this all last night again...thinking I said, I didn't say worry did I? I pictured one of those moving walkways, like you see in airports. Also knows as a moving sidewalk, skywalk or autowalk. It's a slow moving conveyor mechanism that transports people over distances. Jump on and get to your destination. You get on at point A and get off at point B. Here is this endlessly moving thing, you choose when to hop on and when to hop off. Sounds kind of like how we live our lives. We make choices, or we bumble through the day letting life carry us where it will. But when I saw that picture in my mind the Lord showed me that even though we think this thing is carrying us, randomly wherever, it is not, it has a destination in mind. We wake up one day and oh, change it is a-comin'. But for those of us who have chosen to surrender our lives to Jesus and to follow God's will for our lives, the 'holy cow' change was something that God saw eons ago. Time has no restrictions for God. What was, what is, what is to come...it is all the same to Him. My gallbladder being taken out. He saw that. The fact that our business is being sold this week, not next year; He knew that. The fact that we are selling our house and moving. Again, no surprise to Him, the great all-seeing God.
The thing I have often found is that if we look back, we will see that God has been preparing us all along, for whatever may come. For my health issues, I thank God that for the first time ever we had insurance. And it was my tax lady who last year offhandedly said that we needed to look into it, that she was sure we would qualify. I never would have thought. And low and behold, there was our insurance policy Jan 1st, and mid-January here I am having pain. I'm on that moving walkway, heading in the direction that God has in store for me. You don't get on that walkway, planning on going from the ticket counter moving towards the boarding gate and then it suddenly takes off at a tangent and takes you to parts unknown. There is a plan, there is a design. Just so with God.
As I said, we have lived in our home here for 23 years. I have never thought of not living here. I have never thought of moving. Shoot, we just got the house 'finished'; all remodeling done, the backyard and gardens beautiful! Earlier this year I was home by myself, Jim called and I said, if we ever get another house, this is what I want to do...what?? That was odd. And then as I have been dealing with surgeries and being ill, one day in trying to rest for some reason I turned on HGTV. I have never watched that channel. But I started watching Fixer Upper with the Gaines family. And as I am watching, I am crying. Thinking, I want a house that looks like that. Those colors, that style. Seemingly totally different from what I have now. Until I start packing boxes, separating what I want to keep from what I want to sell. And what is in my keep pile? All these unique antiques. That would go perfectly with the style I realized I really love. Tell me that God does not gently and lovingly prepare our hearts for the changes that we think have blindsided us.
One of my favorite hymns is "It is well with my soul", written by Horatio G. Spafford. He was to be on an ocean liner with his wife and four daughters heading to Europe, but unexpectedly had to stay behind for business reasons. On that journey, the ocean liner was hit by another vessel and sank. The only survivor in Horatio's family was his wife, who reportedly said, "One day I will know the reason why this happened". Horatio booked passage on the next available ship and as they crossed the ocean, the captain called Horatio to his cabin and told him that they were passing over the very spot where the ship went down. On that journey is where Horatio wrote that beautiful hymn that we still sing to this day. "When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul." He knew that His God was aware of it all. He knew that while that journey was painful beyond imagination that His faith in God was not in vain. And as you think of those words that he wrote, in worship to His great God, you realize that he and his wife could never realize the profound impact they and their faith would have on humanity. Random travels...I think not.
I don't know what you are going through today. The loss of a loved one. Illness and disease. Financial hardships. Relationship problems that have you brokenhearted. An uncertain future, with seemingly no hope in sight. My dear friend, none of this has taken our God by surprise. He is not gasping in unbelief at what you are facing. He is not throwing His hands up, wondering what will you do! He has all things in His capable hands. He has your very life in His hands, and as His cherished child He will not let you go through anything that He will not see you through. All that He requires is that you walk in His will. That you trust in His love for you. Hmmm, funny that one name for that moving walkway is autowalk. As we grow and mature in our relationship with God, it should become natural, it should become automatic to trust in Him. As He has proven Himself time and again that He will never leave us nor forsake us, we stay on that autowalk and trust that the destination He has in mind for us is right where we are supposed to be. Sometimes we can see the what and the why, and maybe sometimes we may not. Like Horatio and his wife. They probably never realized the impression they would leave on history by what they had gone through and then choosing to praise God through it all.
I am not saying that we will for certain get that house I so want, with a metal roof, white and soft tones of gray and blue. I may be in a travel trailer for all I know, but I do know that my future is not a matter of caprice and whim. It is not up to the fates to decide. And what I worry about...pssshhh. I walk by faith and not by sight. My future is held in the hands of the One who loves me beyond belief. It is held by the One who has an intellect and imagination far greater than I could ever have and I rest in that. I am on that autowalk, knowing that He holds my present, He holds my future and all I have to do is trust and believe. And sooner or later I will get to the destination that He has had in mind for me all along. And, oh the surprises that will come along the way!
Information on hymn found at http://www.staugustine.com/living/religion/2014-10-16/story-behind-song-it-well-my-soul