Translating a World on the Edge

When we feel the world crashing down upon us, we are fearful and look for answers to our problems. We want to fix them, right here and now, but we may not be in control of the solution. What a relief it is to allow someone else to lead us, someone we TRUST; and then, with confidence, follow their lead.

The most secure place to put our trust is in God. And when we trust in Him, He will lead us. When we let go, like a frightened child standing on the pool’s edge, and jump into our Father’s arms with faith; he will not only catch us and keep us from drowning, he will teach us to swim.

Of course, it takes courage to overcome fear with faith. Will we jump anyway?

I have seen God’s work in my own life. I have experienced His loving leadership through events I thought I could not possibly survive, physically or emotionally.  When I tried to handle everything on my own, I was closing off God’s presence in my life, and couldn’t take advantage of the grace He offered me when I needed it most. And I surely needed that grace!

I found that trusting in God is a continuous mindset–always a first ‘go to’ — that brings a real peace.

God may teach us through another person, a person who in narrow-mindedness, we may have judged too severely by a first impression (how they dressed, how attractive they were, how they spoke, smelled, or walked). That person may be different from our image of who we think a person we could follow should be. Sometimes, we may even see that person as ‘in our way.’ And so, we circumvent them, and never get to discover the answer God had in mind to give us through them. Realize that every human being has something to offer, even a surprising answer to our suffering.

In our life journey, the innocence we were all born with will leave us. We will be broken in some way. There may have already been a time when everything changed for you, too, and your life seemed in ruins. Although, none of us wish for brokenness, all of us will face suffering. What sort of action do we take when that happens? Do we moan and groan about the trouble that has befallen us? Do we strike out at others? Do we wind ourselves up like a tight ball of yarn, wishing the world would go away and leave us wadded up in our misery. I did it all that—until I paid attention to God’s grace and allowed it to unwind inside me with surprising results.

If we give grace a chance. If we have faith, not fear, our inner sight will change. We will make an attempt to understand how much God loves us, and when we understand that, we will see things differently. We will no longer be broken, will be ‘put together,’ able to trust our lives to Him, and to follow Him.

And never should we forget that we may be the answer to what another human being needs. Seeing another’s divinity and honoring it is a sure way to express our own. We are, all of us, intended to be God’s expression of love in this world.

Our earthly life, like a beautiful piece of pottery, is fragile and easily shattered, not only by things outside of our control, but many times by our own sins. And of course, our life does not last forever. The genuine treasure of this life is that it continues beyond the container of our bodies. It is not temporary, but eternal. It is Faith, not fear, that will give us everlasting life.

For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.–Corinthians 4:17-18