What Is

I don't remember the source for it, but in my prayer journal I have written, "We must surrender what we thought our lives were going to look like and step into what God has for us instead." We all have dreams, desires, and hopes. A happy marriage, beautiful family, a rewarding vocation, and ministry that bears much visible fruit. Beautiful dreams can become broken ones. It comes to everyone in some way and in some form. What do we do when it does? What do we do when our life mate suffers dementia? How do we respond when our marriage and family is broken apart by divorce? What happens when our children reject everything about us and push us completely away? What do we do when our expected ministry of abundance become a forlorn mission in the midst of the wilderness? What DO we do? Katherine Wolf was a beautiful young wife and mother with a life that seemed to have everything. Then, with no warning, at the age of 26, she suffered a severe stroke that left her disabled, partially paralyzed, and with a severe speech impediment. She refused to give in and give up. She did not run from her God, but to Him. There is no doubt she experienced a wide range of emotions and seemingly unending questions about it all, but she made a decision. She said that she decided that she would not dwell upon all the "what if's" of her life condition but would move into the "what is" of it. And she would do so centered upon the living hope she had in Jesus Christ. The result has been a rich ministry of hope and transformation for thousands of people. To live in the realm of "what if" invites darkness. It's a prison with chains only He can break, and they are broken when we enter into the realm of "what is." And what we will find as the foremost characteristic of this realm is Jesus Christ Himself. He is always in the place of what is. If we will trust Him there, He will lead us through even the most difficult and unpleasant circumstances into the broad place of His blessing and abundance. For our good and His glory. The roll of those who have done this include, besides Katherine Wolf, Fanny Crosby in her blindness, Joni Eareckson Tada in her wheelchair, Corrie Ten Boom in her concentration camp experience, and the apostle Paul and John Bunyan in their prison cells. Do not fear or run from what is, because He is there with you, and what He has for you there will be, as the old hymn says, "worth it all." Blessings, Pastor O