I was bummed. Walking out early of a place I had intended to be for a while longer wasn't easy....but it was the right thing to do. I had hoped for a delay....prayed for a thunderstorm to keep my plane from flying so I could stay. There were people I wanted to spend time with....an event I wanted to attend. But it was not meant to be. The sun was shining as I stepped into the terminal...and my flight was on time. Funny it should be on time when so many times before it was running late. I boarded my plane with heavy heart...still praying for something that would cause the plane to pull back into the gate. We sat on the runway for an hour and 15 minutes. Sigh. Then we flew away. I stared out the window thinking of all I would miss. Then I saw it...off in the distance...the thunderstorm that a few of us had been praying for. Tears stung my eyes and fell down my cheeks...but I smiled at the same time.....the lightning looked so awesome and stars were shining brightly in other parts of the sky. It was beautiful to see. But I couldn't help wondering why the storm didn't appear when and where we had prayed it would....at the place that would have delayed my trip and changed my plans back to what they originally had been.
Hours later, as I was driving home from the airport, a song started to play on my CD player. It was a song about a bad day. I thought back over my day...yeah, I had cried....I had been bummed....I had been sad to leave my friends two days earlier than I had planned....had been unhappy about not being able to attend the event I had planned to go to.....but I had also spent time with some wonderful friends....had seen an awesome musical....had laughed much and had shared life with others....I had been immensely blessed that day. And so when the song about the bad day started to play, I smiled to myself and told God that I couldn't call it a bad day because there were too many wonderful things that had happened to call it that.
I don't always understand why things work out the way they do. I would have rather had that particular weekend work out a whole lot differently than it did....but I know the way it worked out was for the best. I knew it on Friday before I left and I felt it again on Monday when I returned early from my weekend.
I guess the thing I'm reminded of is...I don't have to have all the answers. In this life, I won't always know why things work out the way they do. But I trust God. I know He loves me. I know He's watching out for me. And I know that He will direct the path I'm to walk when I acknowledge Him in my life and listen to what He would have me do.
He didn't say it would be easy....but He did say He would be with me through it all.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Prov. 3:5,6
"...For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Heb. 13:5
