The roads we travel

I love this picture of an Irish road! It is a picture of life in many ways. It is not smooth or predictable but bumpy and unpaved. You can see for a bit but never around the bend. It is one lane so you never know what you might encounter around the next corner. There is a wildness and beauty and unpredictability to it - just like life!

More than ever before it has been the road of my life in the past year. From a forty two day hospital stay hovering between life and death (December and January 07-08), to the uncertainties of health after my discharge and the unpredictable twists and turns along the way - including surgery next week and numerous hospital visits along the way.

Don't get me wrong. I have no complaints. God is good - all the time, no matter what is around the next bend. But I have been reminded, again and again in the past year that in the end we simply live by faith, because we have little or no control over the circumstances of life.

It is a gift to fully understand what it means to live by faith. When we have reached the end of ourselves and have nowhere else to turn but to confidence in a good, all powerful, loving and holy Father, we have received a great gift. It is at that point that what we believe in our head becomes truth in our bones! The gift is wonderful because "without faith it is impossible to please God."

I am awake tonight, long past my bedtime, tired and discouraged. The past ten months have been a long hard grind. That is the reality of life sometimes, there is no reason to pretend otherwise.

But the road continues on past what I can see and I know that in the end, God is sovereign, God is good and all I have is trust in Him and in Him I have everthing I need to have. It is both poverty and riches at the same time. It allows the discouraged heart to be an exhilerated heart all at once!

I would much rather have the two lane Irish road than the eight lane highway. I cherish the adventure of real life and real faith and even the potential danger around the bend. In my need to trust, I gain the gift of God. In my need, I find God's plenty.