Vibrant Lives

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner

Anyone Out There?...

6/14/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
It has been a real struggle for me to decide what to write this week.  Lately, it feels like so many people are experiencing a lot of pain and anxiety. People are struggling with an unexpected cancer diagnosis, the death of a parent, a failing marriage, and a CAT scan that shows a brain tumor. This past weekend, a tornado ripped through the farming community leaving a swath of destruction in its wake. There is ongoing mourning and outrage for victims of bombings that kill fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. Many of us are feeling anxious about the political leaders worldwide who are trying to establish the governing power of their nations. All of this pain, fear and angst has touched my spirit and at times given me a feeling of hopelessness. Where is hope to be found in these feelings of doubt and helplessness?

Sometimes we may have questions like, “Where is God in this mess?” Why do diseases go unchecked when we pray for healing? Why are relationships so complicated? We feel more comfortable when we have answers for things we don’t understand. Maybe you have heard things like, everything we do or that is done to us is the “will of God” or “everything happens for a reason” and even “it is all part of God’s plan.” I have said these very words a time-or-two when there is no other way to make sense of a situation. As a Christian, I want to believe that God is in charge of my life, making all of my decisions because left to my own devices things get messy. However, I think this puts God in a box and does not allow for freedom of my will. If everything that happens in the world is the “will of God” then why do we bother making any choices if it is already preordained to be so? To me, we would be pawns in God’s game of life.
 
A couple of years ago, the question of God’s will hit me front and center and forced me to wrestle with my previous beliefs regarding our free will. When I lived in Colorado Springs, I had a conversation with my next-door neighbor in which he was continued to wrestle with his grief for a son who was accidentally killed by his older son. He shared that as his little toddler was sitting on the living room floor, the older boy started climbing on the bookshelves.  He climbed high enough to pull the bookshelves down on top of the little toddler and they killed him. My neighbor was devastated and he said these words, “I guess it was the will of God.” Everything in my mind, body and spirit screamed, no, no, no! How do you comfort a parent who is filled with such pain? I shared with him that I did not believe it was God’s will for his little boy to die. It was a horrible accident. I am convinced that God wept for this little guy. God wept for the guilt the brother may carry with him for the rest of his life. And as a parent who lost his only child, God wept for the parents who mourned their precious child. If that accident was God’s will then the brother would have been marked from the womb to accidentally kill his brother. The toddler would have been destined to die before the age of two. That doesn’t make sense to me with the God who gave us his Son Jesus so that through him, God could live among us and experience the human side of us. Jesus loved children; he healed the sick, and touched the lives of many regardless of what they had done or who they were. Through his Son, God showed us how to care and love each other even in tough times. This is a God of love and hopefulness.
 
In times like these, we may ask why God didn’t stop this accident from happening. I certainly have asked the same questions when my marriage fell apart. Why couldn’t God fix my broken relationship and stop divorce? What I have come to understand is that God loves me and wants the very best for me. God is with me through thick and thin, the pain, and the hurt and anger. God was even with me when I chose my partner, and when our relationship was broken. What I now realize is that God created us with the freedom to make choices. Sometimes what we choose are good and others not so much but God is still in the mix and works with the choices we make to guide us with love. Sometimes it is in the pain that we recognize our need for God. It was in the pain of my divorce, that I sought a deeper, truer relationship with the Creator and learned to trust the words found in Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.” Time and again in the gospels, Jesus assures us that we are important to him much like, the widows, orphans, the poor and anyone whose lives he touched. This is where I find hope. Being hopeful is not easy, especially in times of pain, however we can be assured, God is in the mix, walking and sometimes carrying us through our deepest and most painful times.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Denise seeks to empower people to live into their true potential...
                               Read More

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Acceptance
    Adapt
    Adult
    Advent
    Adventure
    Alzheimer's
    Angelic
    Angels
    Art
    Attention
    Baby Jesus
    Baptist
    Beauty
    Belief
    Believe
    Belonging
    Be Still
    Betrayed
    Black Lives
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Bold
    Bounty
    Breathe
    Brithday
    Brokenness
    Build Together
    Call
    Captivity
    Caring
    Celebrate
    Challenged
    Champion
    Change
    Chaos
    Children
    Choice
    Christ
    Christ Child
    Christmas
    Church
    Community
    Comparisons
    Compassion
    Confidence
    Courage
    Creating
    Creation
    Creativity
    Crooked Lines
    Cross
    Crowd
    Crown Of Thorns
    Crucifixion
    Darkness
    David
    Dawn
    Decisions
    Delighted
    Denied
    Depression
    Determination
    Detour
    Disciples
    Discovery
    Divine
    Divorce
    Dry Bones
    Easter
    Empowered
    Equality
    Extravagance
    Eyewitness
    Failure
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Father
    Fear
    Flame
    Forgiven
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Friend
    Fruits Of The Spirit
    Game
    Gift
    Gifts
    Gladiator
    Glorious
    Glory
    God
    God Given Gifts
    God-given Gifts
    God Moments
    God-moments
    God's Glory
    God's Love
    God's Timing
    Grace
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Greatest
    Greek
    Handiwork
    Healed
    Heart
    Holding Space
    Holidays
    Holy Spirit
    Home
    Honor
    Hope
    Hopelessness
    Humanity
    Humility
    I AM
    Identity
    Imperfection
    Inside
    Isaiah
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Job
    John 3:16
    John The Baptist
    Journey
    Joy
    Judging
    Labels
    Lent
    Light
    Liminal Space
    Lion's Heart
    Listen
    Lonliness
    Lord's Table
    Lost
    Love
    Love One Another
    Manager
    Manger
    Mary
    Matter
    Memorial Day
    Memphis
    Mended
    Mercy
    Messiah
    Messiness
    Ministry
    Mom
    Mothers
    Moving
    Music
    Mystery
    Nations
    Nativity
    Neighbor
    New Beginning
    New Birth
    New Day
    New Year
    Open
    Pain
    Paradise
    Parents
    Partner
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Persistent
    Perspective
    Potter
    Power
    Praise
    Prayer
    Preparing
    Presence
    Promise
    Psalm 23
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Questions
    Radical
    Radio
    Randomness
    Remember 9/11
    Respect
    Rest
    Restoration
    Resurrection
    Risen
    Running
    Sacred Pit
    Sacrifice
    Salt
    Savior
    Scarsity
    Second Best
    See Others
    Serenity
    Servants
    Sharing
    Shepherd
    Shines
    Sibling
    Simon Of Cyrene
    Son
    Spirit
    Spirit Of God
    Spirit Of Love
    Stone
    Storm
    Storms
    Strength
    Suffering
    Suffering Servant
    Surrender
    Temptation
    Thankful
    Thanks
    Thanksgiving
    The Wall
    Together
    Tomb
    Tower Of Babel
    Traditions
    Transition
    Trauma
    Traveler
    Trinity
    Trust
    Understanding
    Undervalued
    Unfaithful
    Unity
    Unworthy
    Value
    Virus
    Vision
    Voice
    Voiceless
    Waiting
    Wandering
    Water
    Weeps
    Welcome
    Wilderness
    Wind
    Window
    Wisdom
    Woman At The Well
    Women

    RSS Feed

MENU

HOME
BLOG
ABOUT
CONTACT

COPYRIGHT © 2015 VIBRANTLIVES.NET

CONNECT WITH US