The Gift of God’s Mysteries

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding;  Proverbs 3:5

I like definitions. I like to understand things and have an answer. Definitions give me parameters to know what something means. I don’t have to guess. When I write Bible studies, I can easily pass on a definition and include it as “here’s the official way to understand this word or concept.” It’s neat and compact. UNTIL it comes to the word mystery. The very definition of this word can make me go off the rails.

“something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain”

Say what? There’s not an answer? I don’t know about you but I don’t like to live with the unexplainable. AND yet my story encompasses chapters that can’t be completely understood. Why our family had such a challenging environment. Why my father had to succumb to Parkinson’s disease. Why I encountered a back injury at a young age. Why I remain single when I desire a husband to share life. Why loved ones have yet to trust Christ. AND the mysteries continue.

I am embracing that there will always be mystery in my story. I am finding a place of rest that there will always be mystery in the stories of dear sisters like you. I am learning to embrace the word mystery as a gift from the tender and faithful hand of a loving Heavenly Father.

“To Laura with all my limitless love and understanding. God” This is the tag attached to the gift of mystery God generously gives.

If everything can be understood, I miss out on the gift of remembering I am the created one and God is the infinite Creator.

If everything can be explained, I miss out on the gift of telling others “I don’t know but I can point you to One who is trustworthy and loves you with a lavish eternal love.”

If everything can be understood, I miss out on anticipating the day when I will enter unspeakable joy in heaven where I am fully known and safe from all harm, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

If everything can be explained, I miss out on the adventure of living a story which makes room for the creativity and amazing intervention of an all-powerful Author.

The Scripture tells you and me to be ready for mystery in our stories. God says His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8). In the final chapters of the book of Job, God answers him by saying that if Job can’t understand all the ways God works in nature, how can he understand the ways God works in his life? (Job 38:1-18) The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans states that it is impossible to understand God’s decisions and ways. (Romans 11:33)

Sister, what doesn’t make sense right now? A family member who suffers. A boss who changes your career path. A diagnosis which alters your life. The pain of a relationship dissolving or the ache of one that doesn’t exist. Whatever it may be, ask God to turn the burden of the mystery into a gift. Ask Him to free you from the need to figure it out. Our community of sisters at Sacred Story and I am here for you even when there are no answers.

I’ll leave you with the following quote to preach to yourself on days when you are tempted to try to figure out your story. ~ Laura

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