Curve Ball

I've seen close friends and even family endure some major trials. And I thank the Lord for each one as it draws us to Him in dependence. It's easy to look back on trials, see how God worked, and then learn to give thanks. But I don't want to be thankful after the fact, I want to rejoice in the midst of whatever the Lord brings my way.

I'm scared. In the last couple of weeks, the cancer in my mom's back has done damage to her nerve and she is in a lot of pain. She's doing acupuncture, which has helped, but I still worry about her health, and wonder how much longer I will have with her. Often, I can't understand why God chooses to work the way He does and I want to ask, WHY? But then, praise God, my mind takes over and the truth of what I know comes flooding in. The question is not why. When Job was in the midst of his trials, God never told him why. God simply reminded Job of his place in comparison to God by recalling God's wondrous character and power to create and sustain. And Job fell on his face and cried out for mercy.

I won't ask why. Instead, I will choose to bless His name for His holy, gracious, kind, loving, merciful, wise character. And I will trust that infinite wisdom in my life and in my family, and in the lives of my friends.

Job 38:1
"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 'who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid it's cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, and I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop'?

(It goes on...you should read the rest, it's so encouraging.)