Trusting in God’s Plan
In this emotional and inspiring Guest Post, ‘Daisy’ explores the importance of trusting in God’s plan during the most challenging of times…
Tag: trust
COPING WITH CHANGE
What would life be without change? Yet not all change is progress nor is change the only constant as some believe. There are various ways to react to change – embrace and seek it; run and hide from it; deny that it’s happening. Park yourself for a year under a Horse Chestnut tree and you will not be able to escape the fact of change! Each season will come and go – even if you do not accept it, you will be unable to deny the leaves have come and gone. If you are far into denial, the falling conkers may bring you to your senses! Change in the form of the Leaf Miner Moth is now threatening the survival of these trees which can live for 300 years. So yes, for good or ill, change is part of the richness of this life but the way to face it is neither to run from it nor to seek it for mere entertainment – there needs to be a constant foundation to stand upon to come through every possible change that can come in life. If you are not already standing on that Rock, best advice is to look at the leaves changing and find it.
just CLINGING ON
Sometimes it seems that your faith is hanging on by a thread as life falls apart – a spouse deserts you, an illness is diagnosed, a loved one dies. It can be as sudden as one of those tragedies that hits you out of the blue or it can be a sustained ‘East Wind’ prevailing against you – lack of support from church, loneliness in your faith, depression.
Despite strong roots, a tree can be bent sideways by prevailing winds – and yet, they can still hold on. A limpet will cling on, but one sudden tap from a seagull when it’s not prepared and it’s history. If you’re reading this, you may identify more with the tree than the limpet. God seems to allow ‘prevailing winds’ into our lives of many sundry kinds but they do shape us. Take Jacob – using sleight of hand to deceive he was always on the move, suffering family traumas and personal insecurity, he learnt to sleep using a rock as a pillow!
LONELINESS
Ever wondered what it’d be like to be living alone on a small inaccessible island? Lighthouse keepers are not the only ones who do – there are many who either choose to be alone or who find themselves alone through life circumstances. Unwanted singleness, bereavement, friendship breakdown, loss of sight, hearing or capacity and loneliness can descend like a dark dense brooding cloud. Joan Collins said that ‘loneliness is the universal problem of rich people’ yet surely it is the poor who are often short of friends.
- ‘Loneliness is the ultimate poverty’ – Pauline Phillips
- ‘Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty’ – Mother Teresa
STORM
Ever been in a storm, seen clouds gathering and dreading the perfect storm conditions? People the world over have probably suffered these worse than you will ever have to and yet storm surges can happen in our own lives. Suddenly, out of the blue, something happens and a storm is upon you to threaten your very life and existence – a squall. Perhaps this is your current situation or you know someone who is in the middle of one.
‘If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm’ – Frank Lane
‘If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm’ – Mahatma Gandhi