Learning to Fly Free!

The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. 

My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.

John 10:10 

 

2016 was not a good year.  Well, not for me anyway.  I lost family members.  I lost friends.  I performed more funerals in 2016 than I have ever done in a single year before.  There were family struggles.  There were health issues.  There were all sorts of frustrations and irritations that demanded my time and attention (and I was dumb enough to let them steal my time, attention, and joy).  Do you think that was God's purpose?  Do you think God planned for me to have such a bad year?  I do!

 

Let me explain:  There is an old proverb that says, "The gem cannot shine without friction, nor man become perfected without trials."  You see, and I've said this before, if we had a life where everything happened the way we wanted and we had not stress or worries or unpleasantness.....what kind of life would that be?  A life of ignorance, because we wouldn't learn anything.  We would become self-absorbed because we would expect life to be perfect.  

 

Through our trials we learn.  We learn to rely on others (even reaching out to others).  We learn that we have do adapt.  We learn that there really are people who want to help.  We learn that there are people who genuinely care.  And, most importantly, we learn that God carries us through each trouble.