Trust in the lord

20Mar
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5–6 

Why do bad things happen to good people?


Today is my daughter’s birthday. Every year, on my children’s birthdays, I pulled out the photo albums and sat with them, showing the old photos leading up to their birth, time in the hospital and the days after. They would indulge me, acting as if they were hearing the story for the first time. This tradition became more challenging as they went off to college and beyond, relying on technology, sending photos and descriptions over text. I’m grateful for the technology but it isn’t the same as sitting shoulder to shoulder, recounting the story while eating a favorite breakfast they have requested. 


You may be wondering what her birthday has to do with “bad things”. It doesn’t. My pregnancy is where this takes me. During screenings because I was considered high risk, the doctor’s found a chromosomal abnormality. After additional tests, the results were inconclusive. I now fully understood the saying “ignorance is bliss”.


Devastated and confused, I couldn’t help but wonder why this “bad thing” was happening to me. My mother died when I was 18 and I thought her death had enough weight that I met my quota for suffering. In my 30’s, her loss weighed on me every day, particularly during times I was becoming a mother myself. There was no God or spirituality in my life. I felt God had abandoned me. As a teenager, I prayed to God, asking to save my mother from her illness, to keep her alive. In my head and heart, my prayers went unanswered.


How helpful it would have been to have some sort of faith then. Life has continued to show up in ways that create pain and suffering. I am definitely not exempt. Today, I can lean on faith and spirituality to guide me, be present with me and remind me I am OK.


My beautiful daughter has a birthday today. She was born a healthy, happy baby who has taken life by the horns. Admirably, she has chosen teaching as a profession and will be moving out of state this summer. Today, on her birthday while she is in New Orleans, I will pull down the old photo albums and let her indulge me one more time.

Musical Reflection Good to Me - Audrey Assad

Gracious God, we walk by faith, not by sight every day. On this day, give me the eyes of faith to focus on the wonders you have wrought. Amen.
Old TestamentLent

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