Mending Fences... Trust

There's so much going on right now in my family I don't understand (and don't worry, this is not a negative Nancy rant, I know where I'm going ;oP) One of my aunts has received news the doctors have found cancer in her body for the 3rd time in two or three years. Her oncologist has said it's the most aggressive cancer he's ever seen and it's "incurable." Naturally, being a Christian who has seen God cure cancer before my very eyes I expected He would do the same for my aunt.  This woman has lived such an outstanding life with respect to so many things... She's treated all of us nieces and nephews (and from a family of 19 brothers and sisters you do get A LOT of nieces and nephews) with love and respect as if we were her own children. She's always had an open door to her home and her fridge for whoever was passing through whether it be family or friend. Just a few weeks ago she was going through her home digging out dishes she could spare, furniture and more for a neighbor in need she had only just met, if that isn't the heartbeat of Jesus I don't know what is!  I mean honestly, if anyone deserves a miracle it's my aunt Hilda.  But, I've had the unfortunate fate of seeing a lot of people suffer through lost battles with cancer and that is not something I would ever want for a woman of such beauty and sensitivity of spirit so although I know God can I pray "Jesus, give a miracle of healing or a miracle of quickness, don't let her suffer."  And today the report comes through: ten to twelve days to live, past that will be a miracle. Definitely not the choice I want God making in this situation. Really it's almost offensive to think He would choose the option I never meant for Him to even consider.

And there it is, the word that got me thinking... "Offence."  What is offence? What offends us most? Is it just that we don't always get to have our own way? I know there many avenues for offence to come our way and some, if not most of them have way more to do with other people or circumstance than with God.  But I also know the Bible says "ALL THINGS works together for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28) yet, in some situations even scripture can seem like offence.

So what does offence do to us?  Well, the good news is, offence itself does nothing to us unless we hold onto it... Then offence does exactly what it sounds like... A fence. Offence erects a fence around our hearts. And maybe it's just one fence this time but soon there are more and one day you will wake up to find all the things you're holding onto have got your heart completely fenced in. I know sometimes we thing, "well, why is that bad?  Aren't we just safer that way?" No, that's the way we die inside... See your heart needs room to beat, a little air... Eventually we will build so many offences that our heart can't move or breath and becomes hardened.

"Hey, I thought you weren't going to be a 'negative Nancy!?' I don't want a hard heart, how do I let go? How do I stop offences?"  Well, you can't stop offences from coming your way, unfortunately. But you do have some control... You can control your decisions, you can decide to let go of the offence... Decide God is able to handle the situation and even though we don't always like or understand his decisions, like the decisions of a good parent, we can know they are ALWAYS for our best, he will never put more on us than we can bear (with him... 1 Corinthians 10:13) and it's going to be okay.

The most effective way to counter offence is with TRUST. Trust God. Trust His decisions. Trust His word. Trust His strength for you. Trust He is there with you. Trust even if it looks like it's not the best now and you don't see how it can ever turn into your good that it will... I'm sure Joseph had a hard time seeing how God would turn his promise out of being sold into slavery by his own family, thrown in jail once, then thrown in jail again and forgotten about but it happened!

So darlings, sorry for what seems to me to be a poorly executed blog thought and please look past that to the heart of the matter. I pray for you all, thank you for continuously reading! And that's the word for this week... For my family, for you and for me: I say with my grammie of the nineteen "I have no hard luck story to tell, my God has been good to me!" and we will TRUST.