The earth shattering call

            The phone rings at 12:32 a.m. On the other end of the line is the call…that dreaded call announcing someone you loved has passed. Shock and sadness consume every fiber of your being. The world as you know it will never be the same.
            A doctor’s visit for what was thought to be something insignificant results in a deadly diagnosis of cancer or some other life altering condition. The brakes of your otherwise normal life slam you to a sudden stop leaving you to wonder, “Why me?”
            Someone you trust and thought you knew reveals they aren’t who you thought they were. Deception and anger fill your mind, and questions of who and what they have become plague your thoughts.
            Have you been there? Have you had your world turned upside and rocked to the core by something so overwhelming that taking the next breath is too difficult to fathom?
            Life is like that. It is unpredictable. But there is One who knows and who is never shocked or caught off guard.           
            While I would like to believe that I have everything under control in my little corner of the world, the truth is, I don’t. But God does, and He is bigger than any crisis that comes my way.
            During those times in my life where I couldn’t see past the crisis at hand, and fear and doubt clouded my rational thinking, I can look back and see how God was working. There have been times, that only the prayer of others sustained me. I know that now, but at the time, I was so consumed by pain or fear of the unknown that I was unable to see God for who He was and is.
            I think we often put our understanding of God in a little box placed on the shelf of our existence only to pull it down as a last resort in times of crisis. But God is bigger than that and can’t be boxed.
            God is the same in times of plenty and in times of need. He is God, the creator of life and death and good and bad and joy and pain. He is the greatest of all.
            This week, I have seen and heard things that have shaken the world as I know it, but God is still God. He is the same God today as He was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow as He was today. The only difference is how I choose to handle the situation at hand.           
            So for today, I choose to place my faith in the One who knows far more than I. Today, I choose not to judge those that have been deceitful, but instead pray whole-heartedly for God’s peace to sustain them. Today, I choose to love the Lord with every fiber of my being in solemn prayer that those who are hurting with indescribable pain will find peace in a terrible situation. Today, I will kneel at the foot of the cross and leave my burdens in the hands of the One who can handle them. Today, I pray you will do the same.
            “Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!” 1 Chronicles 16:11