If you want to make God laugh.........

At least I hope this may be inspiring.  It has recently been pointed out to me that I suck as a writer, but my pastor wanted me to write my faith story.  I would really like comments if anyone feels so inclined. If you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans. This old saying sums up my faith story in a nutshell. And trust me, I am still a continuing sense of amusement for God. On the good side, since I can remember, I have had a very personal relationship with Him. My parents took me to church on Sunday. I sang in the choir and went to Sunday school and youth group. I really didn’t have any close friends at church, but just being there always made me feel closer to God. And so I went even after my parents got mad at the pastor when I was a teen and quit going themselves. I prayed every night before bed and sometimes during the day had a running if one sided conversation with our Lord. I would ask God to bless people I loved and sometimes would ask him for specific things. Sometimes I got what I prayed for, but often times I did not. When I didn’t get what I wanted I would go to God and like a spoiled child cry, “but that’s not fair!” Some people might have given up on God after so much disappointment, but I hung in there. Hope springs eternal, at least it did for me. Thank you Lord! I think the biggest disappointment was when a good friend of mine in high school died suddenly of an aneurism. When Keith died I was devastated. I wouldn’t talk to God for a while I was so angry with Him. I am ever grateful that God forgives and gives us second chances. I still can’t see any sense in his death, but I have come to accept that we don’t always get to see the sense in life. But sometimes we do. I really didn’t plan on getting married. I was going to be a musician, end of story. When that didn’t’ work out, I was ready to cash in all my chips. I gave God one year to show me life was worth living. I can’t begin to describe to you the pain involved in watching your life’s dream dissolve into dust in front of your eyes. Then God brought my husband into my life and now it is 29 years later and I am ever so grateful that God had other plans for me. My husband and I didn’t plan on having any children. Now we have four and I can’t imagine life without any of them. We did not plan to move seven times in those 29 years, but here we are. We have learned to keep our options open for where ever God leads us to and to never say “never”.  When I was diagnosed with NF, I didn’t really know what it was. I had never heard of it. I was a bit miffed with God about this, and I told him so. It really didn’t enter into my plans for my life. But it was because of this that I became a runner. I run for the Children’s Tumor Foundation trying to raise money for a cure or at least a treatment as neither one exists yet. I don’t really think anything else would have gotten me off my couch. I was thinking about this on my run this morning. I was thinking about how good running makes me feel. I was thinking how it has improved my asthma, arthritis and overall health. I can not bring myself to thank God for being covered with tumors and for the uncertain future that anyone with NF faces, but I do thank God for the good he has brought out of the pain.  I still ask God for specifics, but I try to follow Jesus example in the garden ending with, “Thy will, not my will be done”. Sometimes His answer is “yes”, sometimes the answer is “no”, and sometimes the answer is “just wait and see what I have in store for you”.