"Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
I like to follow various people on Instagram mostly for the sake of inspiration. Their words and pictures give me hope and, for the most part, bring a smile to my face. Scott and I were driving home from a little getaway. I was scrolling through my feed when a former priest showed up. He talked about how he is no longer a priest nor does he believe in God after many many years of believing and serving the church. His reasons were valid and understandable. He saw so many tragic things during his years of faith that he could not understand a God that would allow such horror. I sat on that drive home and pondered this for a good long time. I could not get this man nor all the commenters out of my head. My heart broke for each and every one of them and I realized how easily we all get this so very wrong.
I am fairly young and have not seen tragedy like so many of us have in our lives. I have experienced loss and great grief but, for the most part, my life is pretty blessed. However, I still know what it feels like to hurt and cry those gutteral cries. I also know what it feels like to feel hopeless, lost, alone, and afraid. With that being said, I also have come to understand that if I allow myself to get so wrapped up in this world and this life and that is all there is, I will lose.
I think so many of us try to understand the impossible to understand. Does that make any sense? We can only see this world even if we are strong believers. I know Heaven is real and that eternity is glorious but do I really know and believe it in my moments of distress? Can I see it, touch it, feel it, hear it, taste it? I can't. And because I cannot see, touch, feel, hear, and taste Heaven yet, it seems so far away, surreal, and sometimes unattainable. I think we get lost in this. We try to understand and comprehend things that are beyond this world. We are so wrapped up in the years we have on this earth that we absolutely miss that we have Heaven awaiting our arrival. We get a blink of an eye here yet we act like this is it. We get so wrapped up in death that we cannot celebrate eternal life. We get so depressed over the stresses of life that we forget to live for the peace that is before us. We miss it. And that breaks me into pieces.
Our humanness cannot understand the capacity of God. We cannot see His majestic plan. We think if we can understand a situation then maybe we can control it from happening the next time when all the while, we need to just let go for He has a far greater purpose than any of us can imagine. The more and more I live and experience my human life the more and more I realize that if I truly relinquish the control to Him and stop trying to change the outcome or understand why something happened the more at peace I am. I still get sad and cry and feel all those horrible awful feelings none of us want to feel but there is a hope and a peace that surpasses all understanding. I trust. I believe. I breath. I live.
I believe this priest got it wrong. I understand his perspective but believe his human mind has overtaken his God-given soul. Faith is about believing and not seeing; knowing that He is present even when He seems vacant. I will have an eternal perspective knowing that there is more than this life. I will live out loud because He has given me hope; hope beyond this world and beyond my human comprehension.
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4
Love & Blessings,
Megan
I like to follow various people on Instagram mostly for the sake of inspiration. Their words and pictures give me hope and, for the most part, bring a smile to my face. Scott and I were driving home from a little getaway. I was scrolling through my feed when a former priest showed up. He talked about how he is no longer a priest nor does he believe in God after many many years of believing and serving the church. His reasons were valid and understandable. He saw so many tragic things during his years of faith that he could not understand a God that would allow such horror. I sat on that drive home and pondered this for a good long time. I could not get this man nor all the commenters out of my head. My heart broke for each and every one of them and I realized how easily we all get this so very wrong.
I am fairly young and have not seen tragedy like so many of us have in our lives. I have experienced loss and great grief but, for the most part, my life is pretty blessed. However, I still know what it feels like to hurt and cry those gutteral cries. I also know what it feels like to feel hopeless, lost, alone, and afraid. With that being said, I also have come to understand that if I allow myself to get so wrapped up in this world and this life and that is all there is, I will lose.
I think so many of us try to understand the impossible to understand. Does that make any sense? We can only see this world even if we are strong believers. I know Heaven is real and that eternity is glorious but do I really know and believe it in my moments of distress? Can I see it, touch it, feel it, hear it, taste it? I can't. And because I cannot see, touch, feel, hear, and taste Heaven yet, it seems so far away, surreal, and sometimes unattainable. I think we get lost in this. We try to understand and comprehend things that are beyond this world. We are so wrapped up in the years we have on this earth that we absolutely miss that we have Heaven awaiting our arrival. We get a blink of an eye here yet we act like this is it. We get so wrapped up in death that we cannot celebrate eternal life. We get so depressed over the stresses of life that we forget to live for the peace that is before us. We miss it. And that breaks me into pieces.
Our humanness cannot understand the capacity of God. We cannot see His majestic plan. We think if we can understand a situation then maybe we can control it from happening the next time when all the while, we need to just let go for He has a far greater purpose than any of us can imagine. The more and more I live and experience my human life the more and more I realize that if I truly relinquish the control to Him and stop trying to change the outcome or understand why something happened the more at peace I am. I still get sad and cry and feel all those horrible awful feelings none of us want to feel but there is a hope and a peace that surpasses all understanding. I trust. I believe. I breath. I live.
I believe this priest got it wrong. I understand his perspective but believe his human mind has overtaken his God-given soul. Faith is about believing and not seeing; knowing that He is present even when He seems vacant. I will have an eternal perspective knowing that there is more than this life. I will live out loud because He has given me hope; hope beyond this world and beyond my human comprehension.
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4
Love & Blessings,
Megan
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