God's Plan

Life is not fair.
Laila's cute friend boy Bracken, who she is going to Prom with, his mom died this morning.  What?!?  Bracken found her.  She was complaining the night before of flu-type symptoms, felt congested etc...and then this  They will have to do an autopsy to find out what really happened.  She leaves behind a husband, 16, 9 and 6 year old.  UNFAIR.  There is no way this is God's plan.

Nephew Brian Bentley and Shanna just found out that their 3rd invitro -- frozen embryo -- didn't take.  They are not pregnant...again.  So after a ton of money and 3 failed invitros...they are still out of baby luck.  UNFAIR.  There is no way this is God's plan.

We celebrated my sister, Marcie's 57th birthday on Monday without her.  She is in heaven...we are here and Gary and kids have no Marcie and so many unfulfilled dreams.  UNFAIR.  There is no way this is God's plan.

When crap happens and it does, I'm reminded over and over how unfair life is.

We live in a fallen world with fallen bodies and fallen intellects.  It's difficult to wrap  my brain around all of this.

God's plan was not for a Florida teen to go into a school and shoot 17 people dead.
God's plan was not for 9/11 airplanes to crash into buildings
God's plan was not for the Holocaust to happen
or
for children to be shunned and put into leper colonies because they are related to someone with leprosy...a curable skin disease. 

God's plan is for us to turn to Him during times like these to find solace.  To find peace and perspective.   To find Him.

God doesn't need Marcie or Bracken's mom in heaven and he doesn't need babies not to come down to Brian and Shanna.... what he needs is for us to turn to Him when these hard things happen.  He needs us to pray and study and work through the dark times, so we can find and appreciate the light.  These hard times bring us greater understanding of the frailties  of this life and more empathy for those we walk through it with.

The stuff that happens to us is all part of free agency and experiencing life on this planet...what we make of our trials and how we help each other through and who we turn to... now that's God's plan.


God's plan for us is less about what happens in our day because we have our free agency and we are on a planet filled with people who all have their free agency.  People who make choices that ripple into our lives.  God's plan is more about turning to him in joy and in sorrow.  Expressing thanks to him for good times and for trials, both of which can help us to grow, become more Christ like and develop empathy, and staying grounded in the gospel which brings peace and perspective as we go through our day to days.  So when we say everything happens for a reason, the reason is we are on this earth going through human stuff.