but I don't WANT that on my resume!

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

 *****Today, my purpose in writing is to encourage those who are going or have gone through something really painful.  The above poem by Robert Frost speaks to me of the great chasm and decision point I have stood at in lots of different experiences of life.  Which path am I going to choose--what response am I going to have to life circumstances?  We have all dealt with some kind of pain in our lives.  And throughout our lives, God gives us hope as we trust in Him to lead us, grow us, heal us, and ultimately share with other people around us the way He has helped us as our Rock, our Redeemer, and our Shield and Defender.*****

My Mom always used to tell me, "Jennie, God is allowing this in your life so that you can help people going through the same thing..."

Lots and lots of life experiences that I would NEVER have chosen...childhood sexual abuse, a bad dating relationship in college prior to meeting my husband, the miscarriage of our first pregnancy, a devastating family split (not immediate), rejection...not even things I've chosen...things that really just happened.  Things that for reasons I have yet to discover God has allowed to pass across my path...things I would never chosen to be on my life-experience resume.

I have often wondered why I can't just read about those things in other people's lives...pray FOR others who are going through those things...pray WITH them...but oh, do I have to experience it?  Would my walk with God and my faith in Him be as real, if I hadn't had to cling tightly to Him?  Would what I say in encouragement just hit the ceiling and bounce off of the walls?  Would all of those Bible verses mean as much to me if I hadn't walked those hard paths?  Would I have to depend whole-heartedly on my Savior if I hadn't felt those incredibly painful things?

What would my hug and smile and prayer mean...

...to a mom who lost her baby before she met him or her if I hadn't lost my own?

...to a girl who is in a bad relationship if I hadn't dated a guy who  cared more for what he could get instead of me?

...to a broken family struggling to see hope in the midst of the pieces if my own heritage didn't include broken-ness?

...to a gal wanting to be accepted by her peer group no matter what age she is if I hadn't felt the pain of rejection?

It would mean NOTHING...it would be just words...

Sometimes I just don't understand...Oh, Lord...I just need to sit at Your feet to drink in the wealth of character You possess.  To learn from You how to walk this path of life, fully full-of-life, not hiding behind a wall of pain from the past...to open my heart wholly to the only One Who can heal it...to live with Him alone as my audience.

There are just so many things through this life that I don't yet understand...why God allows this or that to happen...but I know that He knows best and I am choosing to trust Him...even through the tears...because He will make this path straight...straight to the Heart of Heaven.

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Proverbs 3:5,6 ~Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Romans 8:28~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.

Psalm 31:21-24~Praise be to the Lord, for He showed His wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.  In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!"  Yet You have heard my cry for mercy when I called to You for help.  Love the Lord, all His saints!  The Lord preserves the faithful...be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

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So, dear reader...if you are wrestling with the pain from the present or the past, please know that you can fully trust in the God Who created the stars we look at each night, the God Who formed each one of us in the womb of our moms before we took our first breath...He sees you right where you are at and knows your heart...He can bring healing to the most broken-hearted man or woman, boy or girl...to me and to you.  He will make your path straight as you cry out to Him...

I know because He has healed me.