Fall 2013

Fall 2013

Saturday, July 21, 2012

How do I live my life?

I've been reading the book "The Five Silent Years of Corrie Ten Boom by Pamela Rosewell Moore. For those of you who may not know, Corrie Ten Boom was a Halocaust survivor. She and her family were Dutch Christians who hid Jews and others fugitives during WWII. They were betrayed and sent to concentration camps where Corrie's father, sister, brother, and nephew died. Corrie survived and went on to become a world-renown evangelist. Ms. Moore worked as an assistant/companion to Corrie in the last years of her life.

In her book, Ms. Moore talked about something Corrie said to her and it really struck a chord with me tonight. I'm paraphrasing, but Corrie felt that what happens to a person in their life is less important than how they handle what happens to them.

I stopped to think... how am I handling the things that happen in my life? Am I looking to God in every single circumstance? Am I trusting that He knows what's best for me? Do I lean on Him when I don't have the strength to make it on my own? Does God get the glory for all of the wonderful blessings that He has provided me with? Is He the top priority in my life?

Honestly, I struggle with some of those issues. I am SOOO human and SOOO imperfect! I fail miserably and I fail often. I think my struggles come more often with the day to day problems than with the crisis situations (although, I certainly have a lot of room for improvement there, also).

Maia's illness has deepened my faith in many ways. I don't think that my pain is any less because of what has happened. Believing that it could have been prevented makes this a bitter pill to swallow. What our life looks like today is so far from where I wish it could be. But, I try very hard not to live in "what if's?" Here is where we are and the choice of how I handle it is up to me (along with some help from my Heavenly Father).

As I thought further about Corrie's comments, it brought to mind the following Bible verse from 1 Peter 1:7. "These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."

I pray that God will continue to strengthen and deepen my faith. Even though I don't know what tomorrow will bring, He does. And I have faith that He can use all circumstances to reveal His glory.  It is my hope and prayer that the way I live my life will somehow bring glory to Him!



1 comment:

  1. Amen! Thanks so much for sharing, Melanie.

    We have 3 or 4 Corrie Ten Boom books here checked out from the library. Sarah was studied WWII this year, so I thought she might enjoy these. I really need to take the time to read them. She was an amazing lady!

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