Life has a glorious, thrilling and often times hair-raising way of turning out so very differently than we imagined, doesn't it? When, as a young girl of six, I watched my parents divorce and move to separate states, I never imagined I would be walked down the isle with my arm linked in my Dad's sixteen years later. As I watched my mother marry my stepfather who I spent years loathing and being loathed in return, I certainly never dared to imagine my Dad would return to our family and remarry my mother. But in God's glorious providence and grace, that is exactly what happened. My life was reimagined by a good God.
Not every turn ends in what feels good. Life certainly has a way of beating us up, too. Burying my sweet Daddy after only getting him back in our life for twenty-three short years was a blow to the gut from which we are all still recovering. But in God's abundant grace, it was not before he placed his faith in Jesus and walked a fruit bearing season of life with his Savior for whom he was ready to meet face to face when called Home.
Sitting in the pew next to my dearest people one Easter Sunday, watching the artist paint the empty tomb and enormous rolled away stone, I silently begged the Lord for the salvation of my Dad. Open his eyes, oh God, to his need for you and his willingness to turn to you!
If I can move the stone from that tomb, I can move the stone from his heart, Came the response in my soul so clearly I had to look around to see if anyone else felt it.
And sure enough, two more years passed and my Daddy came home one evening to my mother with the words she had longed to hear since her own recent conversion, I placed my faith in Jesus today and surrendered my life to my Savior.
It was after supper when my phone rang with my mother's joy-filled words of eternal hope and answered prayer. Life was being reimagined by a faithful God, yet again.
Pondering the turns life has taken in 43 short years of experience, it seems to mimic a roller coaster more than a scenic stroll. But around every bend and in the midst of every plummet, my God has been so faithful just as 2 Thessalonians 3:3 promises and He will continue to be for always. We can entrust this life to His imagining and reimagining because He alone works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) So let's dare to reimagine and then dare to let Him amaze us.
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