Faith

I had a lot of things to say, but I forgot lol. Well I guess I'll take you back a few weeks ago to when my old pastor came to speak at my church. I wrote notes during her sermon, but I can't seem to find it atm....but I told her about the things I was struggling with prior to her coming to speak and her message really hit me, I felt like God was speaking through her to me. She talked about God's timing vs our timing. How sometimes we feel God has to work right at this second because things aren't going our way or things are too hard...but she was saying how God's timing is perfect, that He knows when to step in. I shared the verses a few posts ago about temptation, how God knows how strong we are and He will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. Just like that, God's timing...is perfect, He knows exactly what He is doing, we just have to have faith in Him, that it'll all work out and it'll all be in His plan and the plan that He has for us. Now today, the sermon...there was this one quote that really stuck out to me..."life can be understood backwards, but can only be lived forwards". To me...that hit a real big nerve...I was sharing this at my devo on Saturday,,,that I was looking back on things I've been struggling as of late, things that really brought me down, things that really made it feel like it was the end of the world...failing 3 courses, losing my wallet and macbook, girls, the future...all this stuff...I stressed so much about...and some I still do, but God has really given me the strength and walked with me through this tough time. And this quote helped me and gave me another bit of strength. That when you look at life backwards...it'll all make sense...that you had to struggle hear to this could happen, that you had to fail this so you could learn this and triumph here...that this bad thing had to happen to you so this good thing could happen to you. When you look at life backwards...everything makes sense because you get to see the end result...so you know that whatever bad thing that happened wasn't for no reason...and it got me thinking to how as of late, I've been really wishing I could look into the future, just so I could see that everything is alright, that all this schooling is not for nothing, that my future is secure. I've been so scared with school and what I'm gonna do after or even what I'm gonna do next year...that I just want God to show me the way, literally hold my hand and walk me down the path I'm supposed to walk, but that's not how it works. We have to take those steps by ourselves...with the hope and the faith that God will guide us. Which brings me to the second part of the quote...that though life makes sense backwards...it can only be lived forwards...so you have to go through those tests, those hard times, those struggles....those feelings of it being the end of the world....it's all necessary for the end result...for you being able to stand there 30 years from now and going oh, I get it...now I understand why I had to suffer...and I'm slowly starting to get it. And my faith in God that He will lead me and guide me through these tough times is becoming more and more firm and secure. Thank you God...for always being there despite how many times I doubt You, turn my back on You and lose faith in You...You never gave up on me...never...thank You.