Friday, June 26, 2009

Trust

Recently I had a conversation with a dear friend who was struggling with a situation in her life that she couldn't work out and couldn't understand why certain things were happening. I remembered this story of the ANT that I used once in teaching a lesson on faith and trust. I sent the story to her and tried to remind her that some things happen in our lives and we may or may not understand why. But it is vital that we continue on in the faith and pray for understanding. Sometimes we just have to keep going. I thought this story was a perfect reminder of that.
I needed to read this story again tonight myself. I went for my 1 mile walk and had to call for Lauren to come pick me up half way through, my back was hurting too bad. I am not sure why it has gotten worse lately? I usually can at least make it through my walk. I sat down and waited for Lauren to come pick me up and I started wondering why I can't at least do this? When will my body get stronger? Will I always be in pain? Anyway, I don't know the answer to any of these questions... but I do know that I need to stay strong, be positive and pray that I will be able to endure, whatever comes in the future.

So good night and enjoy the story!

THE ANT
A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she Was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff.
In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her Contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below Her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.
Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff.
She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."
Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!
Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why you want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what you want me to do, I'll carry it for you."
I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and It's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will."

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