Special offer

Allowing God to Direct Your Life

By
Real Estate Agent with KW at the Parks 651506396

Allowing God to Direct Your Life

I don’t know…I have spent the better part of my life trying to figure out what Allowing God to Direct Your Life really means.  The older I get the less that I think “random” really exists…but then again, could it be just a matter of me over-analyzing everything until my mind finds a purpose? Is that God really speaking to  me? After all, people who do crazy things often say that God told them to shoot someone, or blow something up. And so it goes…that inner debate within.

I have spent my entire life trying to figure out God’s role in my life. There was a point in time when I was an atheist…another time when I was agnostic. I used to think how could God possibly be interested in directing everyone’s life? What was He…some puppet-master in the sky moving us here and there like some gigantic chess game? Why would God care about me winning the lottery, or me getting run over by a bus, having a wonderful life, or a horrible existence? Why would He care about you…or anyone?

I have reached a point in my life where all that inner debate and turmoil has ended. I will be 64 years old in a few months. I can now look back at the path I have traveled, and I can see that both good and bad things in my life happened for a reason. I have been tested, and as a result of those trials and tribulations, I am both stronger and wiser. I can see now that those people God placed in my life were there for a reason. Some served as good examples, and others served as bad examples…but they were not put there randomly.

Several years ago, I was reading a book about Dr. Issam Nemeh. Dr. Nemeh is a medical doctor here in the Cleveland area. Dr. Nemeh also happens to be a faith healer. I know…I know…some of you are thinking faith healer??? I have put a link here. He appeared on the Dr. Oz television show, and Dr. Oz didn’t consider him to be a fraud, or a fake. There are things in life which cannot be explained by man. Here is the link…http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=dr+issam+nemeh+on+dr+oz

In the book I was reading, Dr. Nemeh explained that when he lays his hands on someone, he knows instantly if that person is going to be healed. He then went on to explain something which I found so profound. He said that a person’s healing was not about the sick person, it was about proclaiming the power of God.

I let that gel with me for a while…a person’s healing was not about the sick person, it was about proclaiming the power of God.. Um…pretty interesting! We humans are a pretty self-centered lot. We tend to think everything is about us. Perhaps a part of process of being here on Earth is learning we are connected to each other, and that everything is not all about us.

Those of you who are parents will be able to appreciate this analogy. Remember when your child was an infant, and they didn’t have the ability to “know” about the needs of others…their only concern was informing you by crying that their needs were not being met? As teenagers, remember how at the dinner table, they would take the last serving of food without thinking twice whether anyone else wanted it? Remember how much pride you had as a parent, when at the same dinner table…they finally asked if they could have the last piece of meat? Better yet, remember when they finally told another member of the family to take it…even though you knew they were still hungry. They had finally learned empathy! They had finally learned the world was not just about them. Sadly, many adults never learn this childhood lesson.

I am not sure exactly how we are connected to God…but we are connected. It’s not a connection that can be humanly explained…but it exists, and is real, just the same. We are adrift in a river of spirituality. If we go with the flow of the currents, we stay connected. If we fight the currents, and try to go in a direction of our choosing, the journey will be a lot rougher than it needs to be. Our life does have a beginning, middle, and an end. God is the guide, but we have free will to follow, or to seek our own way.

In some earlier postings, beginning on February 23, 2012, and ending on March 27, 2012; I wrote a series of 23 posts chronicling the trials and tribulations of the adoption of our daughter from El Salvador. In those posts, I wrote that my wife and I felt that adopting Gina was something God had asked us to do. Somewhere around 7 years into it, everything came unraveled. All of our hopes and dreams for a normal life raising a daughter vanished into thin air…and with those dreams; our faith vanished as well.

We spent years adrift in our sorrow, and our bitterness. We were angry at God. But you see, just as child fails to see past his self-centeredness…we adults can become blind to the fact that life is not about ourselves…it is about promoting the power of God.

Lost in the limitations of our humanity was the fact that our adopting was never about our family, there was a higher purpose. Out of that despair, we started to see the loving hand of God touching our family in ways unimaginable. Bridges, we thought were destroyed beyond repair, soon were rebuilt. People entered our lives from out of nowhere, and they suddenly brought healing and comfort.

While our family life with our daughter wasn’t what we envisioned  at the time, we have found meaning and purpose in God bringing us together never-the-less. We were asked by God to watch over one of His own for a while. Gina had been injured and couldn’t walk due to injuries suffered in the civil war in El Salvador, and today she walks normally because we had the courage to follow God.

Gina has since gone on to reestablish a life with her biological brothers and sisters here in the states, and also with her mother and father still in El Salvador. Recently Gina told me that her biological father is now a leader for an organization helping war orphans from El Salvador reconnect with their families. This was the same organization that reunited Gina with him and Gina’s mother 20 years earlier. He has gone from a corn farmer, making around $3 a day, to a world traveler in his efforts to heal families torn apart by war.

So you see, God’s plan was much bigger than just us…but God’s plan always is. We are pieces to much larger puzzle than is humanly possible for us to imagine.

Today, part of my journey is for me to tell you about the power of God…and to tell you that your life has meaning and purpose… that your journey is more than just about you. You too, because of the trials and tribulations you have experienced, are here to tell about the power of God in your life to others as well. We are God’s better angels here to proclaim the good news.

Comments (8)

Rosemary Brooks
BMC Real Estate - 209-910-3706 - Stockton, CA
The Mother & Daughter Realty Team

Great words.  If you have another way or something else to follow.  Go ahead I'll stick to the for sure! God is all you need.

May 23, 2013 03:15 AM
Thomas Craig
KW at the Parks - Orlando, FL

Rosemary,

Thank  you so much for sharing, and for taking the time to read my lengthy blog.

Tom

May 23, 2013 05:57 AM
Mary Stewart
HomeTrust Real Estate, LLC, Homes for Everyone - Wilsonville, OR
Wilsonville and Surrounding Portland Metro Areas

Thomas what a very worthy post to read.  I could not agree with you more and my own life reflects that very fact.  When my youngest daughter was caught in the midst of the drug scene people kept saying to me to do this or that, yet I knew that what I needed to do was love her through it. All my prayers were answered in His time and when she was ready she called me and asked if I would take her to my doctor as she needed her thyroid medicine which she had not taken for over a year.  She has no thyroid and it plays such a huge part of you just living.  She was on her way to dying and He stepped in.  This gave us the opportunity to have all tests done on her that needed to be done in order for her to go to rehab, and thanks to Him she was willing.  We applied through my niece who lives in Hawaii to a facility there that is live in, and miracles began taking place one after the other in an amazing fashion and so fast it makes my head spin.  We sent her to the facility and she was there for 2 and 1/2 years all for the price of the plane ticket.  A facility that would normally cost near $100,000 a year.  God took care of her in his way and us as well.  We raised her daughter, my granddaughter for 7 years and she was one of the best pleasures and learning of my life for those years.  My daughter is doing very well, working and is back to the girl/woman I knew so many many years ago.  We were taught many lessons along the way and He has opened my heart and understanding of many things. I am blessed.  I have never not believed and I think perhaps as we grow in our years we become more aware of the gifts that are presented to us by Him and are more willing to be in understanding of what they are and recognize what perhaps we are to do with those gifts or miracles that happen each and every day.

We all have our stories and trail of our lives that are so worthy of hearing about regardless of what they are.  I so appreciate you sharing this very personal look at parts of your life.  Always so much to take away and learn from and I know such a small part of your life story and who you really are.  Thanks once again for sharing.

May 24, 2013 01:51 AM
Thomas Craig
KW at the Parks - Orlando, FL

Mary,

Thank you so much for your testament to the power of God in your life. Unless you have experienced it, it is hard to believe...let alone explain to anyone else. Yet, in your heart...you know, you just know. What will be interesting is watching how God will use your daughter. I have a question for you...what does your daughter think of what happened? Is she aware that God has a plan for her now that she has been spared?

Tom

May 24, 2013 02:12 AM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

It is really easy.  The more I let GOD control me the better things in my life are.

May 24, 2013 03:26 AM
Mary Stewart
HomeTrust Real Estate, LLC, Homes for Everyone - Wilsonville, OR
Wilsonville and Surrounding Portland Metro Areas

Tom that is such a great question that I do not have an answer for at this time.  She is a very aware person in so many respects and working hard to make her life work.  She is now a manager to one of the home grown chain restaurants in Honolulu and they treat her like gold. She does work many days with long hours in a row so my talking with her is sparse.  I hope to plan a trip over to visit soon but that soon might not be until the fall.  She does help a lot of people and goes to the facility helping out a lot. She is growing over time but does not talk too much about it.  I know He has a definite plan for her but she and I have not talked specifically about the chain of events and what led up to that point.  I think there are things she has not worked out yet regarding the events of her life in the last 20 years, so difficult to look at without help and that I do not believe she is seeking yet.  I pray a lot to Him regarding her and all my children and grand-babies and know He hears every word, and it is all in His time. He brings so much peace and his presence is so strong even in the most trying of adversities, I know I can still feel His presence and strength, if only we allow.  That is what it takes in my mind, if only we will allow, believe and have the faith that we are so loved.  I am not a fanatic by any stretch and keep most things to myself because I do believe that we all have our own way of believing and our own conversations with Him regardless of the manner in which they take place. I do my very best to live what I believe, although many times I struggle like all others.  I think others see by example instead of preaching like so many times I have experienced from others, trying to make what and how I believe wrong because it does not fit their agenda.  Sad.  He loves us all regardless of belief, race, gender, language or not having heard of Him in the way you and I know.

I had a young girl talk with me many years ago and she was very concerned about the way her parents were treating her in respect to religion.  She went to a Christian church she said and was told if she did not believe their way she would not be "saved".  Very concerned.  So I asked her some pointed questions such as:  Do you believe in and love God; Do you think God loves everyone of us and that we are his children; Do you think that the peoples of say, Africia, who do not know Christianity, but believe in their God and live in a Godly way; Do you think that God loves and cares for all of these people.   After some thought, she answered yes to all.  We discussed all of this and  I told her to keep her beliefs and that God does not care about what religion, race, creed, belief system, color or where you live, he cares that you love and believe in Him and that you live your life in as good of a way as you are able.  He will "save" all and has, everyone has a chance.  That evil will not win, it never will if only we believe. Thanks Again.

Have a beautiful day,

Mary

May 24, 2013 03:31 AM
Thomas Craig
KW at the Parks - Orlando, FL
Bill, Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. Tom
May 24, 2013 11:47 AM
Thomas Craig
KW at the Parks - Orlando, FL
Mary, Thanks for answering my question. I love to hear stories of people overcoming their past...and it sounds like your daughter certainly has. I agree with your approach to spreading your faith. I post my blogs and people are free to read them...or to ignore them. I don't pass out fliers on a street corner, and I am not in anyone's face about it either. I only post to groups that are faith oriented. But every once and a while, one gets featured, and I will get someone who will comment that I am forcing my faith on them. It's sad that they feel I have to be tolerant of their feelings, but they don't feel obligated to be tolerant of my faith. I really appreciate you posting such thought provoking comments! Tom
May 24, 2013 12:15 PM