Conversations

I had three very interesting conversations today.

The first was with God. Yes, I talked to God today and He talked to me. I wish I could tell you that He gave me all the answers to all the questions that I've been asking for many months now. That didn't happen. But it was still a great conversation.

I spent some time this morning telling God about all the things I am thankful for. In the middle of the hard times I have been walking through, I have found that it's been really easy to only see what's wrong. That's where we all seem to get focused - on what's NOT right rather than on what IS right. But there is a long list of blessings in my life that God reminded me of this morning. As I thanked Him for each one, He reassured me in my spirit that it is His pleasure to bless me. And in His Word He told me, "...for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29) I serve a God who desires to bless me and He has blessed me indeed AND He will continue to bless me as I follow Him.

My second conversation was with a friend at lunch. This friend is someone that I have not spent any one-on-one time with in a couple of years. As I shared with him the struggles going on in my marriage, God greatly used him to encourage me. He said that one of the things God has been teaching him is that God does not work in linear ways like we think He does or should. We think that if we do A + B we will get C. But God does not work in that way because His view of the world and all the things going on in it and in us is much greater than some simple formula. We think that if we live the Christian life and faithfully follow Christ and do what we should do then we can EXPECT God to do things for us in return and that we will not have the struggles that others do because we uphold our end of the deal.

But, as my friend said, following God does not involve some formula that, if followed, will result in only good things for us. Jesus promised suffering for His followers and He never promised that it would all make sense to us.

During this trial I've had some well-meaning friends advise me to take steps A + B and I will get C and everything will be okay. (I admit I have offered the same advise in the past.) Guess what? I've done A and B and so far, no C. Obviously, God has something else planned and it's okay for me to rest in His peace and wait on Him.

My third conversation was with an author of a book I started reading this afternoon. Amazingly, He said the same thing to me in his book that my friend said at lunch. There is not some "God formula" that we can discover and apply it to our problems and suddenly make sense of them all. God is working in ways that are SO MUCH GREATER than anything we can even begin to imagine. Even when we do not see Him front and center on the stage of our lives, He is expertly working behind the scenes to bring everything together according to His plans for us. His plans may not look like ours. The outcome may not be what we could have predicted or what makes sense to us or others. In fact, the outcome may be confusing to us. But even so, God is working it out according to what He (and He alone) can achieve. That's how amazing He is and how much He loves us.

So, I am blessed today and I praise God for it. Sorry I cannot give you a simple plan or some linear formula that's going to solve your and my problems and suddenly make them go away. Wait --- yes, I can: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. " Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)