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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Saturday Sermonette--Living the Dream

There's a guy in our church who, if you ask him how he's doing, always answers, "I'm living the dream." What's more, he means it. Even when he goes through his occasional bouts of illness that puts him in the hospital. Even when the weather is less than perfect. I agree with him.

There's a knack for living positive. I think part of it is a trust that God has me in His hands. Even when the times are less than perfect, He has a plan and will work it out.

It's not always easy to trust God with your life. It is easy when the weather is great, when your kids are doing well, when your health is good, and when God wants you to keep doing exactly what you're doing.

When it's not easy is when the weather gets nasty--ask the people in the Midwest over the past week. It's hard to trust He knows what He's doing when one of the kids is having a tough time, maybe especially if it's not their fault that things are going wrong. When your own health goes south, how can you trust that things will work out for good? And what happens when God wants you to change direction and do something new? Are you still living the dream then?

I've been through a bunch in my lifetime. Most of it while I wasn't following God. Every one of those instances above have come to pass in my life. I can say now that all things worked for good--other than one still going on, and I know that it will eventually work out for good.

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't God who causes the bad things to happen--bad weather happens to everyone on occasion. It's caused by warm fronts, cold fronts, etc., that are necessary on this planet. I won't elaborate on things my kids went through--but they would tell you things worked (or are working) out for the better. I got in a serious accident way back when and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital. I still bear the scars, but the incident has helped others be more cautious in the same situation. And the direction God wanted me to change, the hardest obedience I ever experienced, has yielded the greatest blessing I've ever had.

So yes. I'm living the dream. I have children who love the Lord, a husband I adore, enough to eat good food and live in a warm dry house and help some others out when they need it. I have priceless friends and kids, grandkids that are worth more than any amount of gold, and a wealth of great-grandkids. I get to write, a profession I wouldn't trade for any seven-digit salary. I am blessed beyond belief.

If all this were taken from me it might be harder to still say I'm living the dream, but I hope I would be able to say, as Job did in the Bible, "If He slays me, yet will I praise Him." Even the pain of death just brings me closer to the day when I'll walk with Him, pain free. I love You, Lord.

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