So last year in November, God blessed me with an amazing small group— it was a total God thing how it came about. The group of young people in it have been the most incredible blessing to me and God has used it greatly in my life these past few months to show me more about Himself and to strengthen my walk with Him!
Right now, we are studying through the book Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (and if you have never read it, DO IT! Go out right now and grab this book! I’ve grown up in a Christian home and good solid Bible churches that preach heavy doctrine and STILL, with every sentence my MIND. IS. BLOWN!). I am having a hard time getting caught up to where I should be in my readings because everything is so deep I get too excited about it lol.
As I was reading it yesterday, it got me thinking a few things, and I just wanted to share a little bit with you all today!
I am (finally rofl) in ‘book 2, part 2, The Invasion’, and Lewis writes,
“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is NOT NEAT, NOT OBVIOUS, NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT…” (all-caps clearly mine ;) ).
He is speaking in relation to Christianity more complex than we might expect it to be, but I had just had a conversation the other night with a dear friend along these same lines, just in a “life” context.
I first read these words, my mental Katie-response was, “yeah NO JOKE!” L. But Lewis wasn’t finished. He goes on to say, “…for instance, when you have grasped what the earth and the other planets all go round the sun, you would naturally expect that all the planest were made to match—all at equal distances from each other, say, or distances that regularly increased, or all the same size, or else getting bigger or smaller as you go further from the sun.” And then, THEN he lays the big one on us. “In fact, you find no rhyme or reason (THAT WE CAN SEE)…”
*stops * whooooaaaa
So let’s take this out of a theological discussion mindset, and apply these statements to every day life. My friend and I were just discussing last night how our lives have turned out to be nothing like we always expected they would be like when we were little; how life has taken Michigan lefts on us; we are not doing what we thought we would be doing at our age, not who we thought we would be, not possessing or doing what we have dreamt of for oh-so-long. In a way (and even though we know better), we feel jaded. And I feel like a lot of us feel this way. What Lewis says is so so true.
LIFE is complicated. Life is odd. It is not neat, not obvious, and for so many of us, it is definitely not what we always expected it would be. We can find no rhyme or reason. There is no rhyme or reason for why we have not gotten what we have prayed for for so long. There is no rhyme or reason for us not being where we thought we would, for not accomplishing what we thought we would be; no reason.
That we can see.
When I read that little parenthetical statement, so close after my salty inner response to the earlier quote, it hit me hard.
There is no rhyme or reason that we can see (now); but God DOES SEE, and He knows exactly what He is doing.
And I know we know this. And I know it annoys us. Because the way we see it, Him knowing the big picture doesn’t help us here and now :P
But it should.
Let us let it encourage us today, sweet sisters
(brothers too, if any are reading !!)
We don’t see any rhyme or reason for what we are walking through (or what we’re not) but God does. And it is a beautiful harmony to Him, a complex satisfying plot, and it is far more amazing and meaningful that anything we could ever hope for or imagine (Eph 3:20). Just imagine for a moment the people God is using you to reach, the lives He is touching and impacting through you right now because you are not where you thought you’d be, but because you are where He has you. Imagine the glory, the intricate, half-step-details, He is working out for us in the background right now as we serve Him in this messy, muddy, unexpected place.
God knows why you are here and why you are waiting.
And He is doing something amazing with it!!!
So trust the process sweet sister! He is already there, at the end of this time, with the solution, waiting for you to arrive but simply relying on and obeying Him.
I will leave you with this thought: He walked this earth, as yes, wholly God, but also wholly man; the Bible tells there is nothing we experience that He did not as He walked this earth. So these feelings of heartache, anger, frustration, of being cheated? He is not just ‘oh whatever, deal with it’. He intimately understands those feelings. You’re struggle is not lost on or insignificant to Him (Heb 4:15). It is important to your story, and He is infinitely proud of you for sticking with it. Rest in Him today, sweet sis (or bro!)
Life is not neat, not obvious, not what you expected it to be. There is no rhyme or reason to what you are experiencing or have not experienced yet—that you can see.
Today rest in and thank God that HE can see and that He is working out an even bigger and more beautiful rhyme and reason than we could ever imagine.
Love you all!
Distorted Glass, I felt, was a well-crafted story that dealt honestly with some heavier subject matter. I was very impressed with the way Sarah crafted Jared's character (his personality and character development as a whole). He was written as a young man who genuinely wanted to please God and help his sister-- but he wasn't perfect-- the way he diligently sought God's will was done so fervently, but realistically, with it's hiccups along the way. Never once did I feel his character was too perfect-- that a sixteen year old guy wouldn't behave that way. I did, however, finding myself wishing there was a way I could get my younger brother (more that age range) to read this story. 
