This quote grabbed me recently as I pondered the many things I encounter as I deal with life, parenting, and discipling young people who share their hearts with me.

I have often said something similar to this quote. It's of no use to ask 'why' during the trial/difficulty/change of plans/disappointment. It is much, much more valuable to seek God on how to walk thru the circumstance He has ordained/allowed in our lives.

See, we don't need to have a big think tank of knowledge stored up somewhere for every single thing we could possibly encounter in life. We simply need to follow God. Every single step. Every single day. Just follow Christ.

But how do I do that? Let Him change your heart every day. Let HIM live in you while you die to you. He has a specific design in mind. For every single soul who is sincerely seeking His face to walk in His ways, he knows what needs to be done to get rid of distractions and even other loves that are conflicting with wholeheartedness in each one. Let Him have His way.

One thing I've learned is to allow yourself to feel the pain, the heartache, the grief, the loss but don't become morose, sullen or bitter. If you are a child of God, He certainly has His hand over you and will not allow anything that isn't 'right' for you to accomplish a goal He has in mind.

About 5 years ago, God took me through an incredibly painful, lonely, bewildering and troubling wilderness. The winds beat hard against me and howled in the lonely night watches. There seemed to be such a darkness and such confusion and many nights I wept on the floor by the fire while my famiy slept. Oh but the water was abundant in the oasis God created for me in that wilderness. The fellowship with Jesus was so sweet. There came a great calm over my soul and I came to a new place of surrender and commitment to do the work God put in front of me to do.

And the work came. Without my needing to go looking for it. It trickled in here and there, and I found myself sometimes wondering WHAT was God thinking to send as much as He did to me. But I chose to walk in faithful obedience to Him, trusting Him to show me what to do and where to be and how to navigate through those roads. I had to give up some very precious things in order to do that work...but I gave it up, choosing to trust God. In that time, I found some incredibly beautiful moments, and many moments were very hard and perplexing, but still I simply held up my life to God to let it be used as He saw fit.

And a few years later, I walked out of the wilderness into a beautiful meadow where there were many wildflowers and much sunshine and cool breezes. There are waterfalls and delightful songs of Zion played by fellow travelers. There are friendships formed that will last a lifetime because they are founded in God.

I say all this to say that God knows what is best for each season of our lives. It is much better to live with open hands to the heavens, willing to do each thing He bids promptly and joyfully, than to sit in sullen bitterness because life doesn't look the way you wish it would.

As I find myself entering a new season of life, a friend sent the Helen Rice poem to me on the right side of this post. I was so blessed by it.

Are there moments of sadness at a change I did not wish in the details it came to be? Yes. But they are quickly replaced with trust in a God who sovreignly knows that this season's details are carefully planned by His hand. He knows why. He knows what I need to learn. He knows what is next for me. I just know that I close the past season without regret because I lived it with open palms and outstretched hands. That is a good feeling. I want to live the next season that way, too.

How about it, friends? Shall we walk through life with joy and the deep settled peace that comes in knowing that God knows exactly what He is doing and will not allow anything that He doesn't have a plan for? That's how I want to live it.

By His grace.
By His power.
For His glory.

Love and blessings,
~Marcia