Reasons

“Everything happens for a reason.” I don’t know if there’s an author for that particular quote, but I live by it. When my dreams are crushed, I know that there’s a reason. When I’m on cloud 9, and everything is going my way, there’s a reason. I know that God has a plan, and every struggle and every victory is a part of His plan for my life.

Every obstacle in your path is there to teach you something. In order to be taught, you must first realize that you don’t know the answer. Then you must be willing to open your eyes and ears, and you must be willing to close your mouth, so that you can learn all the things you need to know, to arrive at the answer. And the lesson you are learning may have more than one obstacle. 

Nine years ago, I lived in Texas with my husband and children. My husband had lost his great-paying job due to some budget cuts and other political nonsense, and we were having a hard time making ends meet. I finally called my parents and asked for help. They came down to see us at Christmas time, we worked out all the details, and by the first week of January, we were back in my hometown in a little rent house. Two weeks before we moved back, my grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer. She was ill, and required a lot of care. In retrospect, looking back, I see that the lost job was a blessing; that because of the lost job, I was able to move back home and spend three months with my grandmother before she passed away.

I know that at every stage of my life, I am exactly where God wants me to be. I am exactly where He needs me to be. I am exactly where He knows I need to be. 

A couple of months ago, I began to dream, to wish, to fervently pray for a specific change in our current living situation. I allowed myself to look at homes, to imagine ourselves in something bigger, something better, something that we could call ours. Something that we wouldn’t outgrow. (And trust me, at the rate my kids are growing, we need some serious space!) I found a place. It felt right. I could see us living there. I could see us waking up there, going to bed there, living our days and nights there.  It suits our needs to a tee. It has room to grow, room for improvement. The neighborhood is clean.  The yards are taken care of. And the storage! Oh em gee!!! Even the closets have cabinets inside them! It’s an OCD-organizational freak’s paradise! I fell in love with it. 

I allowed myself to dream. To plan. I even brought home boxes for packing. Then we looked into financing, and my dreams were crushed once again. Remember when I wrote about the process? Well, the process began again. I spent a day in tears. Then I spent a day just being mad. Mad at the world. Didn’t I deserve something better? Aren’t I a good person? What on earth did I do to deserve this sort of crushing blow? What good does it do to dream? Apparently I’ll just never have anything better. Doomed. Destroyed. Crushed.  I rationalized. I stopped planning. I stopped caring. Because if you don’t care, then it doesn’t have to hurt. Just don’t think about it.

Then I looked at the situation realistically.

And then I remembered:

Everything happens for a reason.

I DO deserve better, and God will provide a way. I haven’t learned the lesson yet. I must open my eyes, my ears, my heart, and be willing to accept the lesson. I won’t know the Reason until I learn the lesson. God has a plan. And it’s OK to dream. It’s ok to want. It’s human. I’m human, I’m created in God’s image. And I’m His dream. I’m His desire. He wants better things for me. He loves me and wants the very best for my life. 

All I have to do is open my heart to the Lesson. Then, and only then, can I learn the Lesson. And then I will know why things happen the way they do. He has a plan for me. 

Everything.

Every.

Single.

Thing.

Happens for a reason.