Learning

I was once doing an exercise where I had to plot the major life milestones on a line with dates.  When you condense 52 years of living into a single line, it can sometimes be difficult to fit it all in.  The moments I've encountered are not only about hardships, but about the victory in these trials.  My strength comes from the Lord. 
Whenever I now go through a period of frustration, or difficulty, I stop and ask God "what do you want me to learn from this event"?  I pray that He will give me perspective about this trial, and show me what I need to learn, or change!  This is how I know that He is real and that He is still with me.  He has never given up on me, and continues to teach me more and more about maturing and walking with Him. 
My father grew up with a life of great sorrow and pain at a very young age.  He was an only child and his mother passed away when he still young.  His father left when his mother died and he was graciously taken in by family members.  He was on my uncle R's farm for a while, and my grandma and grandpa L. took him in.  Most of what my father learned about being a man came from grandpa L.  They became his new parents.
My father was one of the most intelligent people I have known.  He was the type of person you ran to when you had a question you needed an answer to.  If he didn't know the answer, he would research it until he could truthfully tell you the facts. I trusted his word and his knowledge.
When mom and I became Christians, we prayed fervently for members of our family.  Dad was on the list of those that we prayed would come to know the Lord.  I told the Lord that this might be a very tall order since dad kept his emotions close to his chest, and was one of the most logical people I knew.  My experience when I was saved was a tearful, joyful, emotional event.  I couldn't picture my dad having this type of experience, so I knew this was not going to be easy.
Mom and I were baby Christians, so our love and enthusiasm for our Lord was in front of us 24/7. ( I often pray to have that type of faith again.  That fearless, "have to tell everyone I meet", "can't read enough, pray enough, sing enough, or praise Him enough" type of walk.)  Dad was surrounded by this frenetic environment, but I personally never heard him complain, or ask us to stop with the "Jesus talk".  I believe he was just sitting back and observing.  Curious about the change he saw in mom and the peace she had during a most difficult time with the loss of my sister.
The Billy Graham crusade was coming to town, and mom and I had volunteered to help with the preparation for this event.  We had never been to a crusade before, but we knew it would be special. 
I was working at St. A. center at the time.  This was an after school center for young children.  It was situated in a low income housing project.  The children would stop in to buy a slushie, or play pool, or just hang around and talk.  The fondest memories I have are of the young girls who would sit with me and brush my long blonde hair.  The love they gave me was so wonderful.  They blessed me in such beautiful ways. 
I would be going to the crusade with a group of children from St. A's.  My mother would be going with my dad.  The crusade was inspiring and uplifting.  There is nothing like listening to a stadium full of people singing "Just as I am" as hundreds of people move from the stands to the field to dedicate their life.
I returned to the center and called home for my mom or dad to come pick me up.  Mom answered the phone and said "your dad wants to talk to you".  This was quite unusual!  He got on the phone and told me about his moment at the crusade when he went forward and gave his life to the Lord.  I cried.  God had answered my prayer.  He was able to get through that wounded, tough exterior of my father and reach inside.  In the years after, I have learned that my walk with the Lord is not to be gauged by emotion.  My father's conversion was real, yet very different from my experience. 
God can reach us right where we are.  He knows us so well, that He knows how to break down the barriers we put up and to reach inside.  He heals, forgives, and loves.
When I look back on my life before I knew Christ, I saw the way He was making himself known to me.  Through moments at school when we would pray and read scripture before class began.  In the giving of a Gideon New Testament bible when I graduated from Grade 5, to the songs I sang at Christmas that now have a magnified meaning to them, to the neighbours he planted next door to us.  The house on the west side was owned by the Salvation Army, and approximately every 3 years we would meet a new family.  I know that with each new family, came a new set of prayers for us.  Major R. was one of the first people to come to our house when my sister was first injured.  His prayer brought me so much peace.  God kept knocking at my door, saying "I'm here"!
It was similar with my husband's mother.  She was in her 60's and had allowed her children to attend DP Baptist church.  The people at the church took all 5 children under their wings and invested time in each and every one of them.  When their oldest son died tragically in a car accident just days before Christmas, the church rallied around the entire family to help.  Wonderful friends stepped up to help with trying to keep things as normal as possible for the family at Christmas. 
When I met my husband, my mother-in-law was not a Christian.  God wooed her continually, but she had not yet accepted his invitation.  Her brother-in-law passed away, and the service was held at an Alternative Funeral Home.  The minister asked each person in the pews, "If you were to die today, do you know where you would go"?  Years of prompting and prodding came to fruition with that statement. 
She called our home, and I answered.  She told me that she wanted to accept Christ as her Saviour.  I contacted my husband at church, and I he gathered a group of friends that had known the family for years.  They all prayed for this moment.  He went over and prayed with His mom for her salvation. 
She was never the same after that.  She was always a gentle and kind woman, but the love she had for the Lord was infectious.  She told everyone she could about her Saviour.  She wrote to family down south, and shared her faith with her brothers and sisters.  She stepped outside her comfort zone by giving her testimony at a Seniors group. She loved everyone she met with His love.

God reaches us right where we are.  Sometimes people pass through our lives and leave a little piece of His love with us.  Sometimes he knocks at the door, and we are too busy to answer.  Other times we think "we've got it" and don't need God in the picture.  And tragically, sometimes our hearts grow cold and we can't hear him knock anymore.

My father and mother-in-law were always willing to learn.  God doesn't want us to stagnate.  Any time I have failed to grow in my faith, it has been because of my choices, not God's. 

Today, my father and mother-in-law are both seeing Jesus "Face to Face".  Their names are written in the book of Life, and they have both left a wonderful legacy. 
I praise God that He never gave up on me.  That he does not leave me or turn his back on me.  That He loves me enough to continue to show me all that He has to offer, if I'll only believe and follow. 
So when He says "today I will allow a difficulty in your life", I ask "What do you want me to learn Lord?"  How shall I serve you today!

Romans 8:28:
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."