But the REALLY cool thing was driving home with my friend. She is a Sophomore in college, and was telling about how she is just not sure what she wants to pursue/become. In the span of our conversation, we talked about how sign language has become such an important part of her life, and when she looked back over her life she could see that God had been lining things up in her life since she was small, to bring her to where she is now.
She told me that she had been fascinated by Helen Keller’s story as a child, and had asked for a book from Santa one Christmas long ago. But we realized together that not only had there been interest from way back on her part, but that so many things lined up that were outside of her control or awareness. Her father works at her college, which made it possible for her to attend there. This college has an active “deaf ministry” which she felt drawn to immediately- and the fact that she attended the ministry fair her freshman year that connected her to that ministry is a pretty neat trick of fate, too, when you look at it.
I was jealous of what looks like her easy float downstream toward her calling, and we laughed a bit at her worrying about what to do/be, when it all looks so much like the plan is set for her.
Then, I got to thinking… what if all my agonizing is silly? What’s God lining up in my life that I don’t have the distance and perspective to see? Why do I have such a hard time believing that God has put that much thought and design into my plan?
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let me tell you the parable of the white water rafter. Once there was a young woman who decided to go rafting down the river. She was very smart so read all of the information ahead of time so she would know all of the safety rules, how to "read" the currents, and how to paddle properly to make the raft go in the desired direction. She didn't understand all of the information (like how can some of the water actually flow upstream or why would it be best to go through the fastest moving and deeper part instead of the slower shallower parts, and why would you try to go faster than the current at that point?) but was certain that she could come up with her own and better way of handling those situations when she came to them - she could conquer the river. At the first rapids she chose to go through the slower moving section, but her boat got caught in the rocks, pushed sideways by the current and swamped. It was very treaturous and difficult work to free the vessel and get herself back into the boat and moving again. At the second rapids she read the current and hit the right spot but approached too tentatively, nosedived over the falls and was flipped out of the boat. She remembered the safety tip about floating on your back, keeping your feet downstream, and arching your back to slide over the rocks. Over the first rock she made it successfully but did get bumped some and a little scraped, so she decided this technique wasn't good enough. At the next rock she tried to kick off of it and swim to the side. With that the current pushed her under, slammed her into the next rock nearly drowning her. Beyond that point, the river leveled out and she was able to retrieve her boat and continue on. As she approached the final rapids - bruised and wet and discouraged she decided that this wasn't what she wanted, pulled the boat ashore and dragged it through the woods, knowing that somehow she could find a better way to get to safety.. Much later she came out of the woods - battered, bruised, wet, and angry - out of the woods just below the final rapids of the same river. There were many rafters happy, resting and exchanging stories about their adventures on the river (many similar to her own experiences) very enthusiastic that the lessons they had learned preparing for and during the trip had successfully seen them safely to the end of the journey. The End.
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The moral: Don't try to control God's plan for you. You will only put yourself through unnecessary torment trying to forge your own path instead of following the one He so graciously laid out for you. He will get you there eventually, no matter how hard you make it for Him.
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It hadn't occurred to this woman that God had placed the river there, supplied her with the necessary knowledge to make the right decisions, given her the strength to overcome the problems she encountered along the way or even seen to it that she made it to the same ending point as everyone else who took the same journey. You see, she understood the jouney and accepted it's challenge but thought she could control it and do it 'her' way. She fought the natural flow instead of riding the current, got stuck, and had to work twice as hard to get back on track. She nearly got killed in an effort to avoid the normal bumps and scrapes one should expect in life. She thought she could give up and choose a completely different direction instead of the one that was so clearly laid out for her but she ended up where he was destined to be anyways. She had simply made the journey harder than it needed to be.
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I love your reading blog because it allows me the opportunity to attempt to be profound and offer advise as if what I say was something you didn't already know!!!
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