Facing the Ups and Downs of Life

Hi Friends,

First some news, then some thoughts.

The news:

This week Veil of Fire was named a finalist in the 2008 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery Suspense, in the Inspirational Romantic Mystery/Suspense Category. So, that was fun! :-)

Less than two weeks before Beyond the Night releases! Yesterday it was featured as an editor's pick on the front page of the main Random House website - so cool!

The thoughts:

The ups and downs of life have got me thinking lately. Life is like that. This week I may find out that my book finaled in a contest and see a new, exciting promotion for a book soon to be released. Good stuff! But then there have been other times too. Times when I only get bad news - your book has been canceled, your sales numbers are low, things look grim. There was a point a few years back when I came so close to quitting the whole thing. And what about children - how wonderful to get pregnant and have a baby (or two!), but how awful to go through so much infertility, to have miscarriage after miscarriage.

So, as I think about how life is, I've been considering this verse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

And in that verse, I've discovered a disturbing fact. I'm not God. Big surprise, huh? And yet, while that may seem like an obvious truth, it defies much of what I was told as a child. “You can do anything you set your mind to,” “Achieve your dreams,” “All it takes is a little hard work.”

But honestly, I’ve come to realize that very little of my life is actually within my control. I can’t undo past mistakes. I can’t control what happens to me today – if someone will crash into my car, if it’ll rain and spoil my morning run, if I catch a cold. I can’t even guarantee my future. I could die today, or get cancer, or lose my next contract.

That’s why I’m glad God is God of today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

He is God of today. Whatever happens is in His hands. The good, and the difficult. And moreover, He is the God of how I choose to spend this day, this hour, this minute. None of my “now” belongs to me. He is God of it all. And I need to remember that.

He is God of yesterday. There’s nothing in my past that can’t be forgiven, and there’s nothing I’ve done that He can’t turn to good. He is the God who can transform an instrument of execution (the cross) into a symbol of life and hope.
He is God of tomorrow, of my hopes and dreams, and my fears. I can leave all that in His hands.

So, in the realities of life, I'm finding it's not my job to "achieve my dreams." It's not my call to grasp after what I want, and despair when things don't go as hoped. All I can do is try to be faithful to Him today, in the circumstances in which I find myself. Rejoice with the good, mourn with the bad, and seek just to know Him better, see Him better, and maybe, in that, glimpse a bit of His glory, and with it, perhaps a bit of His vision for me.