Why Is This Happening??

I’m re-reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. (If you’ve never read this book, read it!!) This is the third or fourth time I’ve read this story, and as you readers know, great books get better with subsequent reads. Knowing where it’s going, I’m catching more of the reasons why Corrie Ten Boom begins the way she does – with stories of her life in Holland before the war, of lessons she learned from her family, of circumstances that seemed unfair but were, in reality, what she needed to prepare her for what was to come.

I’m “of an age” now where I can understand more of the “why’s” for my own past. I see how God used a variety of situations and circumstances to prepare me for what’s to come. And, though I’ve never had to endure the kinds of horror that Corrie Ten Boom faced, I can, like Corrie, see God’s hand in my life.

Looking back in this way helps me to look forward. I see that the major back surgery I had at age 13, which led to me being held back a year in middle school (which I thought was the worst thing EVER!), resulted in me being exactly where I needed to be when I needed to be there. I see that the painful breakup in college was actually a blessing, because it brought me closer to the Lord and it freed me to meet my husband. I see that the move to Texas, with a 6 month old baby, wasn’t the tragedy I was sure it would be, but was actually one of the greatest blessings of my life to that point, and a preparation for more moves in the future. And so on and so on and so on. I can see, over the decades, how God used what seemed, sometimes, to be random or awful or unfair to prepare me and grow me, to teach me and even bless me.

Reading books like this reminds me that the Author of our stories doesn’t waste a “page”. And what may seem minor or inconsequential may actually be character-building, foreshadowing, or simply the exposition for the next chapter. Whatever is happening in our stories, we can be confident there’s a purpose. Corrie Ten Boom, from a young age, learned to find joy in every day activities. She learned, from a young age, to seek God daily and to love others, even if they were different than she. And God used those lessons in amazing ways as she matured.

God will use this “page” in your story — in HIS story — because He loves you, He has a plan for you, and He is good.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer. 29:11