VIEWING LIFE'S UPS AND DOWNS
"I lift my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?"
(Psalm 121:1)
Sooner or later, everyone finds himself in a place where all hope is
gone. Illness, often, or unemployment that stretches on and on through
month after discouragement month. Divorce, maybe, or the terrifying
waywardness of a beloved child. You've tried everything you or anyone else
can think of, many times, but you've finally reached the end of your rope.
God is at the end of that rope, as God has been at every point along
it. When you've done all you can, all that remains is to turn it over to
God. Does this mean that you'll get your heart's desire? No — if that
were so, the millions of people whose families prayed with everything that
was in them for a healing and didn't get one would still be alive. You
don't know in advance what your help will be, or from which direction it
will come. But in unexpected deliverances and in anguished defeat, that
which comforts and stays with us is God. Perhaps God will join your
rejoicing. Perhaps God will share your sorrow. In your life, you will
surely know both of these ways of feeling God's presence.
I think the question we can best explore with God is not so much "What
will happen?" as it is "What can happen in this situation?" God is not an
appropriate subject for fortune-telling; God is a God of prophecy, of
discerning meaning and the potential for good in everything that happens,
the good and the bad. Viewing life's ups and downs in this way opens my
eyes to possibilities I would never see if I located God only in those
moments in which I got my way.
Shared by Joe Gatuslao
Bacolod City, Philippines
-----------------------------------------------------
This mail is generated from http://www.jesusyouth.org
To subscribe to this mailing list send a mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----------------------------------------------------
