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by Randi McNiel

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YE OF LITTLE FAITH

YE OF LITTLE FAITH

RECALCULATING!

January 2020 – A New Year

You may remember the old GPS that gave you directions as you drove to your destination. If you did something contrary to what it told you to do – like miss a turn, or you turned left instead of right – it would stop and say, “Recalculating.” It would then come up with new directions to get you back on track.

As we begin a new year many of us go into it with New Year resolutions, or at least some idea of what we hope to accomplish. Maybe there are things you want to do differently, or perhaps something you’d like to start – a hobby you want you want to take up, or a new habit you want to form. A new year is a new beginning, a fresh start, a clean page. It is the hope of something better.

For me, the year 2020 was going to be brighter following a very sad and challenging 2019. My brother had died in January following an 8-year battle with cancer. My dad died in June at the ripe old age of 99, but a major loss for me as he was the one I called every morning as a sounding board while I struggled with my husband’s Alzheimer’s. Right after that, following a 6-year battle with my husband’s Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia, I made the hard decision to place him in a board and care since he was no longer walking. I visited him every day and fed him dinner, treasuring every moment I had with him. But in October, my husband passed away. So much loss, so much grief and pain – it was overwhelming. Friends stepped up to make the coming holidays a little brighter for me. My two childhood friends came to town and we planned a Girl’s Day of activities. My fellow Stephen Ministers at church invited me to join them for their Christmas Potluck. A Holiday Champaign Breakfast was coming up that Saturday at the senior community where I live, and our church’s annual Festival of Christmas Music with choir, orchestra and handbells would be that Sunday – a full week of activities with friends after being sidelined from activities for so long. And 2020 was just around the corner. I had hopes of going back to choir, participating in a grief share group, getting out with friends and finding a new normal without my husband and the responsibilities of care giving.

That’s when God stepped in with a different plan. It came in the form of a cricket in my bathroom the night before my Girl’s Day out. I fell and broke my ankle. It was as if God was saying, “Recalculating.” What? Seriously? I would spend the next 2 nights in the emergency room followed by a month in a nursing care and rehab facility – through Christmas and New Year’s. I would miss all of those activities with my friends that was to have eased the grief and bring me some joy. I would spend another 6-8 weeks in a non-weight-bearing cast – going into February unable to drive, to work, to go anywhere. And God says, “recalculating?” I didn’t get it then and I don’t understand it now.

What do we do when God steps in with another plan than what we had hoped for? People lose loved ones during the holidays as well as other times during the year. There can be that diagnosis of a serious illness, the breakdown of a marriage or other relationship, financial disaster. How do we handle it when God seemingly says, “recalculating” and our lives go down a different path than we intended? How do we move beyond the anger, disappointment, self-pity and depression?

I often think that someone is going to get the glory from my reaction to life with its’ twists and turns. The glory will either go to God, or it will go to Satan – there is no middle ground. It all comes down to my attitude. And my attitude really comes down to trust. Do we only trust God when things go our way? Why is it so hard to trust when we don’t understand what He is doing? Consider the following:

GOD LOVES US “I have loved you with an everlasting love; What do we do when God steps in with another plan than what we had hoped for? People lose loved ones during the holidays as well as other times during the year. There can be that diagnosis of a serious illness, the breakdown of a marriage or other relationship, financial disaster. How do we handle it when God seemingly says, “recalculating” and our lives go down a different path than we intended? How do we move beyond the anger, disappointment, self-pity and depression? “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God.” (1 John 3:1)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EACH OF US “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 hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways And my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God loves us more than we can fully comprehend. He has a specific plan for each of us individually. He doesn’t owe us an explanation as to why He does what He does. He doesn’t ask us to understand, only to trust Him. We trust God with our salvation and our eternity; surely we can trust Him with our daily lives. Will you trust Him when he says, “recalculating?”

- Randi McNiel

I often think that someone is going to get the glory from my reaction to life with its’ twists and turns. The glory will either go to God, or it will go to Satan – there is no middle ground. It all comes down to my attitude. And my attitude really comes down to trust. Do we only trust God when things go our way? Why is it so hard to trust when we don’t understand what He is doing? Consider the following:

GOD LOVES US “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-20)

Thank you, Ellie Joy, for painting my cast today. It is absolutely lovely! You have such a gift.

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