No Accidents

I have a small library of often read books, old friends whose content I know is safe and comforting. These include the Mitford books by Jan Karon, the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, all of James Herriot's books, and a few other volumes whose careworn covers show that they are to me as a favorite stuffed toy is to a child.

These books are scattered through the house and I usually grab one of them to keep my mind engaged while I'm drying my hair each morning. Today I read a passage in one of these books that landed as healing balm over the aching places in my careworn heart. I don't remember which book it was in, so I'll paraphrase it here: The fact is, nothing that happens to a child of God happens by accident.

I knew that. Really, I did. But seeing it in black and white helped me today.

No relationship is safe but the relationship we share with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no safe harbor apart from Him. Those we love will let us down, even those who love us the most and who are most dependable. They fall prey to human frailty, perhaps through becoming so involved in their own pain that they can't see ours, or through betrayal, or they get Alzheimer's disease. Other people will abandon, betray, fall prey to sin or disease...and sometimes they die and leave us all alone.

But nothing happens apart from God's will.

God loves me perfectly. He is able to use even those circumstances that seem disastrous to me to bless me. I can trust Him for myself and I can entrust those I love into His capable Hands. He won't let me down. He won't let them down. He can be depended upon to bring forth beauty and blessing from the ashes of human failure and disappointment.

Father God, bless and protect those we love today. We praise Your Name.

Scripture: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).