What If? 11/10/13

Good Morning,

Sunday and this day started with a hot cup of Door County Chocolate Meltdown Coffee.

I use the expression once in awhile. "If, if if, if my aunt had a mustache she would be my uncle." I know we all at times say. "if only, what if, why me, how come,?" I have been there and take a trip to the "what if" chamber of my heart and mind quite often.

Life is full of calamity and tragedy. I would never minimize or make light of anything anyone is going through. Births that never came, spouses who cheated, funeral homes needing to be visited, empty chairs at the table from a child who disappeared, cancer treatment brochures that need to be read, teenagers out of control, economy woes, government failure. All these dot the faces of many around us and ourselves.

We want to cry out! What if, if only, why, why and why. This is a normal reaction.

But what if?
1. We who made it through one of life's tragedies and can identify with the one going through it now would reach out and say. You'll get through it. We will get through this together all three of us.

2. "All three of us"? They ask. "Yes all three of us" we reply. You, me and God. God is still here and wants to take this tragedy and turn it into to something good. He saw 5000 in need of food and took a basket and made a feast. He saw a lost world and a death, but raised One on the third day to redeem the world. The death still occurred, but in the end there was beauty and grace sufficient for all.

3. He can get us through all things. Get through! Not end them, but use them. And he is calling us who have seen Him at work in our lives to say. "What if I use my past calamity to help others"?

Reach out with God's love and compassion. Show other's that God is near and loves at all times despite the blow the world delivered.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Prov. 3:5&6

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

Be encouraged; we may not understand why now, but someday we will. WHAT IF?

Love you all.
Marty