Sunday, March 21, 2010

Then Again, It Could Just Be Stuff

My Mother is a woman of great faith. She sees God in the details of her life, and she acknowledges all things to Him. So when 'something' happens, she immediately looks to see what she can learn from it.

I have adapted a similar philosophy, and I think that it is driving me a little insane. We've had a really hard year with this move, and so I have thought that maybe we were not supposed to move, that I forced the move and am now being punished with obstacles being placed in every single step of the process. After all, we started the process of moving almost exactly a year ago, and here we are, a year later, far from settled.

Today at church there was a father who spoke. He told the story of going on his mission. He went into the Training Center and hurt his neck. He had to wear a neck brace for several months. Then he had an infected tooth which was a source of great pain. And then four months into his mission he was sent home for three months for double knee surgery.

Was he being punished? Of course not. I need to stop looking at frustrations as divine punishments and just as stuff. My job is not to interpret the stuff or find meaning in the stuff, because it could just be stuff. My only job is just to survive the stuff and try to survive it well.

3 comments:

Erin said...

I agree. I think many times the Lord lets trials happen (after a decision is made) for two reasons--one is to give us signs that the decision was the wrong one, and the other to test our faith in the yes feelings we got when we made the decision in the first place. My take on this is, if you felt good about the move in the first place, these are just trials that would have completely rocked your faith if you didn't have that "did I not speak peace unto your mind" kind of feeling when you made the decision in the first place. As your former VT'er, my guess is you're experiencing the latter. :-) BTW, I LOVE catching up w/ you via your blog. Let me know if you need another invite to ours. Erin

Unknown said...

OK. I'm a little behind in life. But I was thinking about this blog for a couple of days now. You can't live in regrets, what if's, or maybe's. The great and hard thing about this life is agency. You guys made a decision, which has really enhanced one part of your life and left you hanging in another. It's not punishment, it's consequences (for lack of a better, not negative word) and it's life. It'll work out.

Unknown said...

BTW it's Stephanie not Lance. : )