our journey...

I am so excited about life lately. Don't get me wrong, there have been numerous things that haven't exactly gone as planned, and there have been many things that my family and I have had to go through, but my heart is as full as it has ever been. My journey has led me to a place where circumstances are what they are. They don't define me, but instead I am starting to see the bigger picture, and how God works all things out for our good. Do I still have questions and apprehensions about the future, sure. Do I always know exactly how everything is going to turn out, no. But through all the text, through all the paragraphs of events in my life, the book that is my journey is starting to take shape. It has always been written, no doubt, by my Maker, before time began, and through His providence He is revealing it to Me now in ways that honestly, reveals not only how great of a God He is, but how intimate of a friend He continues to be. As I write this, there are a lot of things both in my life, and in those lives that touch me personally on a daily basis that, to be as simplistic as I can be, do not make a bit of sense. Hearts are hurting. People are confused. Children are sick. Abuse is rampant. Unemployment is still an ugly reality. Separation is isolating. The list goes on and on and on. I do not know the reasons for everything, and I would be foolish to come across naive and blind to the fact that there are many more lessons to learn in this journey of mine. But one thing never has changed... this is hope that I have in Jesus Christ. This hope was a catalyst in my life before I was born. Before my parents were born. Before all there is, was... This is why life is hopeful for me now. This is why art is so beautiful to me now. This is why music is so inspiring for me now. This is why relationships are so important to me now. This is why my life has purpose now. This hope.
As the Lord reveals what He would have me do, I would ask for your prayers for me and my family. He is opening doors, creating opportunities, developing friendships, strengthening my career, reconciling relationships, and giving me an artistic flame in my soul that I have not had in years. As I look back over the past few years, as I said previously, there are some paths that the Lord allowed me to travel that are just now, through His truth and goodness, able to be viewed through a lens of clarity. Just seeing His faithfulness to me and my family has, in turn, made me that much more confident in His ability to take what I see as rough events in my life, and turn them into opportunities to mold me into the man I am predestined to become. In return, my prayer for you is that He would breathe life into your journey. Maybe you have hit a dry spell, a desert of circumstances that you cannot see any way out of. My prayer is that you stop staring at that open page ahead. You want to know the story, and believe me, it will have an incredible ending. Start over. Look back and re-read the chapters that have been written and see what an incredible story has unfolded so far. Don't worry about the chapters ahead, they have already been written...