Fried Dreams & Salted Past

by Julie Lucia

Upon reading Fearless, by Max Lucado, I was struck by one profound paragraph – “The prisoners who were optimistic died of broken hearts. The one who survived had sustaining faith.”

During difficult seasons in my life it is in my nature to be optimistic. It is a trait I have been given by my mother and has passed down to my daughter. It has been an enormous comfort when things don’t go the way I planned, (Which happens a lot). It has also caused a lot of heartache and disillusionment when hopes and dreams are dashed or I ask God to fix a situation or show me something good to come out of hurtful circumstances and put a timeline on it.

You might catch me several times telling my children to enjoy the journey. It is because I love to plan. Sometimes I get more excited about planning something then I do the actual event. Maybe it comes from my days as an event planner, but, who doesn’t love the season of Christmas or waiting excitedly for your first baby to be born?

My twenties I planned and excitedly anticipated finishing graduate school, finding a new job, vacations, my wedding, and a new home. My thirties, I waited excitedly for my children to be born and planned out our days, our meals, our getaways and prepared for the first day of school.

Do you notice what they all have in common?  End dates. I knew all the planning and dreaming there would be a day that they would actually take place. Maybe not on the actual day that was scheduled (like two of my children who decided to wait a week after their due date to arrive).

When I came to my forties I found myself not planning anything but our dinner. All those years I was excitedly anticipating something profoundly exciting and now I found myself at a loss. I still have hopes and dreams and promises God has placed in my heart but they are so big there is no specific date given. God has shown me that I literally need to take one day at a time. I don’t need to plan the next big thing. I can be excited about where He is taking me. Maybe I would have learned that earlier my heartaches and disappointments would have been less. I can rest in Him knowing His plans are so much better than mine wherever they take me.

And maybe now I can take my own advice and “Enjoy the Journey.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Life Under Construction

By: Amy Beth Williams

Life under construction:  Experiencing life’s delays, detours and ditches.

For the past several months, I have had the unpleasant experience of road construction right outside my apartment building. Between the jackhammers, bulldozers and orange cones, I am ready for it to be over!

As much as an annoyance this entire project is to me, I have come to realize that my life isn’t much different. God oftentimes has us “under construction” in whatever area He sees fit. First there are the detours. You know, those times when your plan A turned into plan B, turned into Plan Y? It’s when we think we know best and God proves otherwise (and by the way, He is always right). Detours are often necessary for God to test our hearts, grow our faith and to remind us to surrender control and leave the driving to God. We can’t get to our desired destination without His wisdom and guidance.

Secondly, there are the delays. Just when you think the destination is right around the corner, another two months pass, then a year and before you know it, you start to believe God has forgotten you. Waiting is HARD. There is nothing more difficult than waiting on a promise from God without any outward encouragement. The temptation is to take a shortcut but we learned from Abraham and Sarah that it’s better to wait on God than to create a proverbial Ishmael.  Trust His timing. He knows best!

And then there are the ditches. Those places in life where we get stuck and there seems to be no way out. No matter what we do or how hard we try, we feel shipwrecked. I know from my own life, there are many times when the very pit I prayed my way out of was the very place that God was preparing me for the blessing. Just like Joseph, we need to trust that God is in our seemingly helpless situations and is just waiting for us to surrender control so that His glory can be displayed in our lives. There is a purpose even in the ditches of life.

There are few other things about construction I have noticed:

1. It never seems to have an end.

2. Eventually, it does end.

3.  It’s always for a purpose, even when we can’t see it at the time.

We have to remember even when, especially when, God is working on us. Let Him have His way – He knows how to get you to the other side safely. Remember: the orange cones are only temporary!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5