Thoughts and Peacefulness

Yesterday Mary wrote me something she heard in chapel by a missionary girl: "The Stories in the Bible, they didn't know at the start of their story, the ending of their story." That is inspiring to think about. I thought about this:When Eve was created, she had no idea of the pain of childbirth awaiting her. Her garden was perfect. As they named the animals, Adam and Eve had no idea that some of those would rise up against mankind. Enoch had no idea when he was born, that he would not die, but be taken away. How could Noah have known he would be building a big boat of all things? Do you think his wife knew she would be cooped up in a ship with animals for 40 days and nights, and be the only family on earth after that? She had no other women her age to talk to after the flood! Could Rebecca have known that she would travel to another land to marry a man she had never met? What about Sarah, when she was born and later married Abraham, could she have known that he would be the "Father of Many Nations"and she would have a baby in her old age? How could Ruth have known that her husband would die, and she would leave her land and be an alien in a country of which she was not from, marry a bachelor, and eventually be in the lineage of Jesus?(I guess she never knew that though) She was just faithful to do her part. Esther, a Jewish girl, had no idea, as she played with the other little girls, and did her work, that one day she would marry the King, and God would use her to save the race, by which His Son would come. David had no idea as he watched his sheep, and held his lambs, sat around his campfire, and wrote poetry, that he would be King one day. Mary, the mother of Jesus, probably imagined herself living a very normal settled life in Nazareth, never could she have imagined herself being pregnant without even having been with a man, having that baby in a cave, fleeing to Egypt, and later watching her son die on a cross. The fisherman never would have thought that they would have been following a man around and watching him do miracles, and later doing miracles themselves. But they just took one step, and when Jesus said, "Follow Me," they followed, and that changed the course of their lives. They couldn't have known that their nets would be full of people, instead of full of fish. We have no idea what will happen in our lives, God just asks that we follow one day at a time, each step preparing us for the next. One day their will be a beautiful picture, in many cases it is already there. Just look back and thank God for His faithfulness, and keep on, because there is so much more ahead, lives to be touched, and God's kingdom to be furthered. Like the words of the song - " I'm going on, I'm going on, I'm going on, towards the mark, towards my goal, so many lives, they depend on what I do, give me the strenghth Dear Lord, I'm going on for You."