HOW?

      She's the woman awaiting results to find out if it's cancer, again.  He's the dad that helplessly waits for a donor to give his daughter a kidney.  It's the parents that haven't talked to their son in 3 months. They are the young couple who are trying for the 11th month in a row to get pregnant. It's the elderly woman that is pleading with God to heal her ailing husband. It's the single dad that is bringing his son up alone. It's the widow; every Sunday is a struggle but once again she walks in trying to get past her pain. Will the 9 month old that they've had since she was 6 weeks be taken away?



     Don't we all know these people? Maybe we don't know everyone of these people but I can almost bet that all of us know one of these people. Currently at this very moment I know every single one of the people above. I interact with each of these people on a weekly basis. When you read the above struggles you can't help but ask, how? How do they trust God when everything around them is caving in?

      A few Wednesday's ago our praise team gathered to sing at church. We sang songs like 'Mighty to Save' and I couldn't help but notice two grown men sitting in the pews of the sanctuary. They were the only two people even sitting. One was a dad of three kids. He had gotten word that day that neither he nor his wife could be the kidney donor for his daughter. The other was a dad of two girls. They are not his girls biologically, he and his wife foster them, but ask anyone that knows him or his wife and they will tell you that they are the very best parents to these girls.  Every week they ask themselves will this be the last week they are with us?

    As our praise team sang songs like 'Mighty to Save' and 'You are God Alone' these two dads sat on different pews. They had completely different burdens. They both had their eyes closed and they seemed to be giving their worries up to God. How? How do they give it up? How do they trust that His plan is the best plan? These two men and their families have weighed on my heart and mind since that Wednesday night. I have prayed for their families and for God to provide them with a calming peace as the await His plan to unfold. 

     I have also been haunted by their image on those pews. Never have I seen two people appear more trusting of God. They seemed to drink in the words of the songs we sang, ' Savior he can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save' and 'And right now in the good and the bad, You are on Your throne, You are God alone.' I have asked myself several times since then, How? How is it that everything is caving in around them and they still cling to God?

    Maybe it's because it's all they know to do in this desperate time. I think it's more than that. I think it is because God has always been faithful to them thus far. Granted His plan sometimes is completely different than what we would have chosen for ourselves but He has never turned His back on us. He is the Gracious giver that has provided us all a life with Him. During times of turmoil it is so easy to be anxious and not trust in Him. But when we do trust in Him we find a peace and a freedom that cannot be found anywhere else.