TRAGEDY OR BLESSING?

     I prayed for God's beautiful snow. I received it. I slipped on a snowy slope and broke my leg. It was tremendous pain crawling to the doorway of my home through the deep snow on a 14 degree Fahrenheit day. My wife had thought me joking when I had managed to text her "HELP!" The Doctor at the hospital said, "8 weeks of walking with crutches, days and nights of lying with ice packs around my leg and mind clouding medicine for pain, no activity, isolation, no driving, arrrgh... Test my patience, Lord! Treat me like Job. Why me? What have I done to deserve this?

     After much kindness, love, saving my neck from the chopping block time and again over many years, gifts of life when my actions cried out only for merciless justice, I know that what is to come is a blessing from this seeming great yet trivial tragedy. The first blessing I find is the time I have longed for to glorify my God by praising His uncountable and unmatchable gifts of divine love that he has poured out upon me and those around me each and every day which I find myself too busy to recognize on too many days. But, when I slow down to listen to His ever-pleasing and soothing-spiritual words that pass from his lips to my longing soul, and doing this  on the best as well as the weariest of my days upon this earth - always with the assurance of life with Him forever. While in the midst of this I begin to feel myself lifted up, soaring upon His spirit and soaring above all the trivial pain and hate this physical world seems to be enveloped with. Flying high - just me and our Father - far, far above it all. Oh, that respite He delivers from it all the respite we need so very dearly each and every day upon this earth. Always there whenever we take a few moments to come close and give to Him. Yes, such a long time has passed between and oh, so many opportunities squandered on humanly-worldly pursuits in place of glorifying and spending time with my Father whose love heals all tragedies, all pain, all broken hearts, all losses. Raise me up with you, oh my Lord.  

     I peered through the thickening fog of my life, and there he stood arms extended and motioning toward me - "Come to me." I looked around in my loneliness feeling a presence and there he sat beside me with his arm around me and a loving smile - why hadn't I noticed? As I plummeted and spiraled downward out of control, I felt myself become weightless and floating slowly and softly down but not finished as his spirit surrounded and protected me. Why am I so blind and why do I first turn to fear and thoughts of tragedy before I turn to him right there with me - always with me? This time I turn first and foremost to you my Lord Jesus. Your teachings, your continuous presence have taught me to turn first and only to you. I place my trust, my love, my absolute confidence in the goodness of your love and will for it is your will not mine that shall be done though I know not all that is contained within it, I know it is good for you have shown me every time that it is so. I place myself in your arms my Father. Take me for your will and your glory - not mine - for mine is worldly and selfish.

     It would not take five minutes with me to realize that I am not the best example of a Christ-Disciple, but would not take long to realize that Christ is with me and I offer him to you. If you live within him already, then let us rejoice in him together for we know that he is always with us. Others, in taking our hands, will be joining hands with our Lord also. Come rest with him. We have traveled too many miles since last sitting down to rest and rebuild our spirits with our loving Lord. Let us listen to him while he teaches us about the lasting and eternal things and about our Father, our truth. Let us drink his spiritual water so that we may never thirst again. Let us remember to live in him. Let us love as he loves - without condition. Then surely this world of man shall begin to fade away and heaven begin to descend upon earth for us and all our other brothers and sisters desiring and living discipleship in our Lord Jesus Christ.

     What? Is the "Good News" such as this not worth sharing? But, of course, we know that it is worth sharing and, if necessary, worth dying to share for is that not our calling, our discipleship? If we have nothing worth dying for in our lives, are our lives really worth living? Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we  are assured that our lives are worth living for our Father gave us a faith that is worth dying for. Yet, we do not have to fear that death for our God's Son conquered Death itself.

     Tragedy or blessing? When you live your life within our Lord, there is no tragedy, only his will that is good, loving, and a blessing to be a part of for he conquered tragedy and even death so that we can have eternal life through him.  Pray and give time each day listening to our loving God. This is only the beginning and there is no end. As a Christian learn to experience spiritual joy in the midst of tragedy for in doing so it is not just our command but one of a Christian Disciples great strengths within himself and a gift of strength to those suffering around them and a glory to our loving. We have joy for we know what has been promised for our sufferings. leave those around you curious and longing for what you have through your faith. Only spiritual joy with his certain faith could have taken Jesus beaten to within an inch of his life and to within moments of death to that cross working for his Father up to his very last moment to bring disciples home with him. What a leader is our Lord, our God. What an example is He. It is not how could anyone follow a man spreading and encouraging the message that Jesus brought into their lives, but how could anyone not. We are different and we are strong for our joy, our lives do not depend upon this world's acceptance and mankind's truth and way of life. Our quest is not to discover answers to questions that we long ago have been given answers to through the Creator, God, himself. A God so confident that he allowed, even commanded, man to write down his words verbatim to be tested by believers as well as nonbelievers to be torn apart, tested, disparaged to no avail for they stand solid thousands of years later guiding those that love truth, love, and God. Walk forward with the confidence that carried mortal men into and through great tragedy and tribulations to victory such as Moses, David, Paul, to name a very few of the many millions each and every day past and present.

     Remember, God did not create us to torture us, he created us out of and to love, but still, as our Father, he had to instill and give to us a purpose, and, being his children, it is a huge and truly important purpose, to have the faith that can move mountains, love unconditionally as he loves, and serve as he served in his time walking upon this earth in human form so that you may be more like him and be deserving of inheriting the eternal life he has promised us.