ETERNAL PLANS

...He (God) has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

ECCL. 3:11

...How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

ROM. 11:33

A friend from my junior high/high school church youth group died yesterday after a two year battle with cancer, leaving behind two kids not quite in high school yet. She was a single mom which made these last few years even more difficult, though her immediate family provided her great care and comfort. I have an internal tendency to put myself in that person's situation, and that is when I grieve.  On the one hand, I recognize the fact that we live in a world marred by sin, that everything is in ruin and disrepair, and the outlook isn't too bright. Like Solomon, I look around when things like this happen and find things meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Yeah, there's a time for eveything, it just seems the times of bad can outway the good. I think he and I would have gotten along well, but I think we'd bring each other down all the time too.

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste

of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering...

...But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.

And I am convinved that nothing can separate us from God's love...niether our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow.

ROM 8: 23,25,38



After leaving high school, I hadn't talked with my friend for 20 years, but Facebook put us back in touch, which I am so grateful for. It wasn't long after reconnecting that she got a prognosis of colon cancer, and thus started a two year journey in which she fought courageously, always confident of God's healing, praying for the best outcome. In her last post on Facebook, three days before her death, she eluded to the second half of Romans 8, and the great messages it holds. I'm reminded that in this life, we will still groan and suffer, seeking relief to be free from the sadness. But I am to rest in a God that loves me, who has adopted me, and will someday give me rest from this life that is full of suffering.While acknowleding my sadness, questions, and "groanings", I need to rest in the love of someone who has a plan and is working it out for the final good. I don't quite understand his plan for my friend, nor his plan for me, but once my full rights of adoption are complete, I will understand this moment in time. I must be patient and remain confident as my friend was, whose adoption process is complete, and is now home.