Day 62: I Will Return:
"'I will return to you about this time next year, your wife, Sarah, will have a son!' Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent." —Genesis 18:10
Anderson says that the word "return" as it is used in the above scripture, in Hebrew, means "to intervene in someone's life to change his or her destiny." The main message of today's lesson is to "be alert to ways in which God may want to intervene and change [our] destiny"—just like he did for Abraham's wife, Sarah.
I feel as if I have always been fairly alert to the ways in which God may want to intervene in my life, perhaps even too alert at times—seeing things that are not really there or over imagining what God may be doing and how he may use me in situations. One example, (and as I write this I'm thinking, It's not over yet, perhaps he will use you in this way still) is when I was younger, I felt as if God would use my brother (second oldest) and I to bring our family back together. That somehow Christ would work through us to reconcile Bob (my step-dad) and Glenda's (his ex-wife) relationship and bring our whole family to Christ. That has not happened yet, but because of my brother and I, Bob's son Glen and he now have a relationship. Glen told me once that because of the way we talked about Bob, he began to feel that the things his mother had told him about his dad were untrue. He finally reached a breaking point with his mother due to the abuse he constantly had endured and reached out to Bob's wife Teri through Facebook. Those chats led to him meeting with his dad on Thanksgiving a few years ago. Seeing Bob reunited with his son has been one of the most amazing things I've experienced. I am overjoyed for both of them. So no, we were not instrumental in reconciling Bob and Glenda, but we played a small part in reuniting a son with his father, and for that I am grateful.
A side note about my family: imagine you have two couples and they switch wives. Odd? Yes, but it happened. It wasn't quite like, Hey I like your wife. Do you want to trade? All four of them met because my dad had a band and needed a drummer and a bass player. It just so happened that Bob played the bass and his wife, Glenda, played the drums. They played in night clubs for several years together. Little did we kids know that our parents had fallen out of love with each other, that their marriages were dissolving and new relationships were evolving. My father and Glenda, both being from the South (Louisiana and Mississippi), formed a connection and Bob and my mother, both from the North (Rhode Island), began to form their own connection. Before we even really knew what was happening, our parents were separating and moving in with the other person's partner. I guess I should say before I even knew. My older brothers knew what was going on better than I did. My oldest brother Lonnie had some problems with it, but I thought it was great that I was gaining two new brothers and one was younger than I was. I was seven years old when Bob married my mother.
Though the divorces caused pain for each of us in ways that I cannot fully express, I feel that God intervened to change all of our destinies. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if my parents had stayed together, but I would not change what has happened. I would not be who I am today if Bob had not come into my life.
Right now I feel that I am again at a crossroad where God is intervening and changing the direction of my life. The day after Trump's election my husband and I started looking at houses in Canada. We are concerned for our son's future in this country. With a man like Trump as president, we just don't see this going very well for any of us. We have done all of the paperwork needed to become permanent residents and are just waiting to hear if we have been accepted or not. We have a trip planned over my son's spring break in a couple of weeks to go to Canada and learn more about the area in which we plan to live (Toronto or Ottawa). I thought I was going to live in Colorado for a very long time. I love my house here and felt it would be my forever home. I love the area; it's so beautiful. We are right under the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by bike paths and rivers. I've made some really great friends and don't want to say goodbye, but God may have an entirely different plan for me than what I had at first imagined. If we move, I will be much closer to my brothers. My brother Lonnie and his wife Sally just had two baby boys. I would be closer to my twin nephews and that brings me an immeasurable amount of joy. The thought of packing up this house and moving across the country, actually out of the country, makes me feel a bit apprehensive for a variety of reason. However, I also feel hopeful for what God may do in my life from here.
I am alert, and though I may not feel ready, I know that God can do amazing things if we are open and willing to be guided.
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