for a reason..

I have so many thoughts running through my head right now... Let's see if I can write them all down to where it makes some sort of sense and maybe does some inspiring or enlightening along the way.. 

First, I am a "cliche" person who believes and takes to heart many cliche sayings, like, my favorite, "everything happens for a reason." Tonight, I can share two accounts or proof of this to be true. 

Tuesday nights for me consist of YoungLife and Worship at the Wesley House. YoungLife is always awesome and goes above and beyond my expectations, however, at Wesley tonight... we sang the worship song, "Came to My Rescue." Not only is this one of my favorite songs ever, but it is one of my "go-to" songs when I am struggling with something. 

I distinctly remember after a very difficult time in my life about six months ago, I literally think I sang that song every day for like two weeks straight. It starts out like this, "Falling to my knees in worship, giving all I am to seek Your Face, Lord all I am is Yours. My whole life I place in Your hands, God of Mercy, humbled I bow down, in Your presence, at Your throne." This song just speaks volumes to me about the literal act of humbling ourselves when we cannot bear the load anymore and being willing to give "it" to God, whatever "it" may be. For me at the time, it was just a mix of emotions--anger, bitterness, regret, sorrow.. you name it, I was feeling it. 

The chorus then follows and says, "I called, You answered.. You came to my rescue and I, I wanna be where You are.." The beauty in these lines is that yes, as believers in Christ, we must have a constant routine of giving things up to God, but after doing that, we must trust that He will come to our rescue and we must trust that we are to be where He is. To go where He says go and stay where He says stay. Tonight, though, as we sang the song, it meant something different to me. It was a thankful, rejoicing  song; I am thankful in the fact that six months ago when I sang (okay maybe I actually screamed) but when I sang that song then, HE came to my rescue. The Lord of all the Earth met me in my place of distrust, my place of hurt, my place of discomfort and reminded me that I am His. 

Throughout this past week, I have also been dealing with more crazy emotions and mixed feelings about where I am supposed to be right now, so tonight it was also, me saying, "Hey, Lord, here I am again. Show me where to go. I am here in worship, listening to You. Now would You show me the way? Would You please come to my rescue again?" I kind of think of Daddy's and their little girls... As a young girl, I always called upon my Daddy to rescue me, didn't matter what from-Daddy could always save the day.. Got a splinter? Call Daddy. Need some help getting out of a batting slump? Call Daddy. Want to go get away from the world and ride on the four wheeler? Call Daddy. Need some help building a simple machine for 4th grade science? Call Daddy. In the same way, we are told to call upon the Lord and whatever we ask of, we shall receive. I said all of that to say that I felt a sense of peace tonight as my fellow "students" and I sang that song to the top of our lungs tonight in worship. I felt that Jesus was right there, at my rescue, again. Singing that song happened for a reason. 

Secondly, later on tonight as I came back into my from the night of worship, I realized that my phone will not charge. Now, the first "reason" that comes to mind for this happening is the fact that I might need to stay off of it just a tad, but with my 1 year old son at home without me, I have a hard time believing that to be true. However, in order to keep myself busy until I feel ready to go to bed. I scanned Facebook, particularly my Facebook profile. My, how rewarding that was. I, first and foremost, got to see how God has worked through my life through different trials and how He has continuously answered prayers (things I posted prior that have since been answered). I was also reminded what a STRONG support system I have and the community I have surrounding me that loves me unconditionally, I literally cried reading some comments and statuses. I was reminded how harsh death can be and how quickly life can be ended, by reading through my posts about a dear friend, Peyton Randall (love you, sweet girl.) Lastly, I was slapped in the face with just how fast life passes us by. I scrolled through the last two years of my life and could not believe that some events literally happened TWO years ago when I feel like they happened yesterday. It is sad to me that we spend most of our time wishing for future time that we rarely enjoy the present, that is the way of the world. I felt a sense of guilt as I myself have wished time away as much as the next, but I now have a one year old who will soon be two and then twenty if I am not careful. Time is of the essence and I am thankful for the reminder. Though I am bummed about my phone and will literally have waterworks on the 3rd floor of MEP if it does not cut on in the morning, my, am i thankful that it cut off so that I had time to reflect. I believe that my phone crashed, tonight in particular, for a reason. I could almost hear God Himself saying, "slow down, Elizabeth." 

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go. Things go wrong so you can learn to appreciate them when they go right.... somehow good things fall apart so that better things can fall together." 

Every little thing, I believe, happens for a reason...

Bless ya! 

Elizabeth