Reason #519
This has been the longest day. Maybe it would be better for me to say the fullest day. I've done more today than I originally planned, and I am so glad it's finally bed time!
My aunt got married today. We celebrated with her and her new husband this afternoon. I was really excited and happy for her, and I could tell she was happy, too. And although everyone always says this, I'll say it with all honesty, she well deserved it. And so Aaron and I got to go back to the chapel where we got married last month to witness their nuptials. It didn't seem like it was that long ago, yet it kind of does. The minister has known both my aunt and her husband for quite some time, and he made a statement at the start of the ceremony that although he had known them for many years, this was something he never saw coming or would have thought up. But God did. He knew about this a long, long time ago. And it kind of gave me chills just thinking about that statement. About how little we actually do know and how much God knows.
I'm a pretty predictable girl. I don't deviate from the path or the routine very often. I like to play it safe, you know, and I feel that because of these two characteristics, I should have a pretty good idea of how life will go. In college, I felt that if I picked a good major, I'd be bound to have a good job. If I followed a certain path, I'd be bound to stay out of trouble. If I lived in a certain location, I'd be safe. If I led a certain lifestyle, I'd be happy and healthy. You get the idea. I understood that I couldn't control every single factor, but if I followed certain paths and made certain choices, I knew that everything would turn out right.
Does this sound familiar? You just thought if you did this or that everything would be okay. You just knew it would turn out alright. But it didn't. It didn't go as planned. You have yet to find that good job. You somehow landed yourself in the middle of trouble. Your health turned on you, or your things were taken. Your relationships failed, and your nest egg was broken. How could this have happened? You did everything seemingly right. You tried to make the surest, safest choices. You thought you were doing the best thing you could do. And now you've come to realize that you only thought you knew what you were doing, but you really had no idea.
As I was shopping for a brief moment this afternoon, before forcing myself out of the store so that I didn't have to justify all my new purchases as early birthday gifts, I heard a song playing throughout the store that really surprised me. I started mindlessly humming to it before I realized what I was singing.
"Where ever He leads, I'll go. Where ever He leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so, where ever He leads I'll go."
And I was amazed that this song was playing over the speakers. Loud and clear, the words of an old hymn were filling the ears of shoppers who probably weren't even aware of the message they were hearing. But I began thinking about this, about my aunt's wedding, and even about my own. Because the truth is, we really never know what the heck we are doing in life. We make decisions based on the information we have collected and we hope for a good outcome. There's never a guarantee that life will pan out as you think it will no matter how wisely you've chosen. Because sometimes things just happen that are out of your control. But the one thing you can do is keep following Jesus. Where ever He leads you, rather it be through the valley or up the mountain, you can follow Him. And you can know full well that if you keep following Him, He will take care of you. He will watch over you, provide for you, meet your needs, heal you, restore you, protect you, and never stop loving you.
You see, Jesus knows what's ahead of us. And a lot of times we stop following Him to follow what we want because we thought it was a really good thing, but it wasn't. If only we had kept following Him, if only we hadn't relied on our own knowledge but His. Well, it happens to all of us sometime or another. I'm just grateful to know that when we do begin following Him again, He will lead us into goodness and into light. Away from darkness and sin and death. And even though following isn't easy, it's comforting to know that this is one of those decisions you won't end up regretting or being unpleasantly surprised by the outcome.
So where ever He leads, you should definitely go. And who knows where that may be, but you can know that in the end, you'll be really glad that you followed.
#519 - Because we know we can expect a full life if we follow Him.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." - Proverbs 3:5-6
My aunt got married today. We celebrated with her and her new husband this afternoon. I was really excited and happy for her, and I could tell she was happy, too. And although everyone always says this, I'll say it with all honesty, she well deserved it. And so Aaron and I got to go back to the chapel where we got married last month to witness their nuptials. It didn't seem like it was that long ago, yet it kind of does. The minister has known both my aunt and her husband for quite some time, and he made a statement at the start of the ceremony that although he had known them for many years, this was something he never saw coming or would have thought up. But God did. He knew about this a long, long time ago. And it kind of gave me chills just thinking about that statement. About how little we actually do know and how much God knows.
I'm a pretty predictable girl. I don't deviate from the path or the routine very often. I like to play it safe, you know, and I feel that because of these two characteristics, I should have a pretty good idea of how life will go. In college, I felt that if I picked a good major, I'd be bound to have a good job. If I followed a certain path, I'd be bound to stay out of trouble. If I lived in a certain location, I'd be safe. If I led a certain lifestyle, I'd be happy and healthy. You get the idea. I understood that I couldn't control every single factor, but if I followed certain paths and made certain choices, I knew that everything would turn out right.
Does this sound familiar? You just thought if you did this or that everything would be okay. You just knew it would turn out alright. But it didn't. It didn't go as planned. You have yet to find that good job. You somehow landed yourself in the middle of trouble. Your health turned on you, or your things were taken. Your relationships failed, and your nest egg was broken. How could this have happened? You did everything seemingly right. You tried to make the surest, safest choices. You thought you were doing the best thing you could do. And now you've come to realize that you only thought you knew what you were doing, but you really had no idea.
As I was shopping for a brief moment this afternoon, before forcing myself out of the store so that I didn't have to justify all my new purchases as early birthday gifts, I heard a song playing throughout the store that really surprised me. I started mindlessly humming to it before I realized what I was singing.
"Where ever He leads, I'll go. Where ever He leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so, where ever He leads I'll go."
And I was amazed that this song was playing over the speakers. Loud and clear, the words of an old hymn were filling the ears of shoppers who probably weren't even aware of the message they were hearing. But I began thinking about this, about my aunt's wedding, and even about my own. Because the truth is, we really never know what the heck we are doing in life. We make decisions based on the information we have collected and we hope for a good outcome. There's never a guarantee that life will pan out as you think it will no matter how wisely you've chosen. Because sometimes things just happen that are out of your control. But the one thing you can do is keep following Jesus. Where ever He leads you, rather it be through the valley or up the mountain, you can follow Him. And you can know full well that if you keep following Him, He will take care of you. He will watch over you, provide for you, meet your needs, heal you, restore you, protect you, and never stop loving you.
You see, Jesus knows what's ahead of us. And a lot of times we stop following Him to follow what we want because we thought it was a really good thing, but it wasn't. If only we had kept following Him, if only we hadn't relied on our own knowledge but His. Well, it happens to all of us sometime or another. I'm just grateful to know that when we do begin following Him again, He will lead us into goodness and into light. Away from darkness and sin and death. And even though following isn't easy, it's comforting to know that this is one of those decisions you won't end up regretting or being unpleasantly surprised by the outcome.
So where ever He leads, you should definitely go. And who knows where that may be, but you can know that in the end, you'll be really glad that you followed.
#519 - Because we know we can expect a full life if we follow Him.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." - Proverbs 3:5-6