[Looking it over, I realize that this is a long post, and I apologize for its length, but I feel that this is worth it.]

In my short life, I've lived in many extremes (and the places in-between).

As I was growing up, my family was thrown into a meatgrinder of simultaneous problems. I've gone from wealth (though not realizing I was wealthy) to extreme poverty, and back again, and down again. I've experienced deep depression that's lasted for many years (1/4 of my lifetime). I've watched as myself, my family and my friends became victims of all sorts of horrible situations... marital separation, suicide, substance abuse, betrayal, gang violence, and extreme poverty are just a few of the medium-horrible things that happened to us during a period of a few years. I remember that one year, we bought a small tractor to mow our big lawn with... I remember another time (I think 2 years later) where the price of that tractor was more than all of the money our whole family earned in a year.

Believe it or not, those years were some of the best years of my life. My family was shattered, fighting each other instead of working together, and I had very few friends. But when we prayed, stuff happened.

One time, when we didn't know what we were going to eat for supper as there was no money and nothing substantial to eat, we prayed. There was a knock on the door a few hours later, and a guy from some anonymous organization had about a week's worth of food to give to us. Another time, our car died when we were beyond broke, and after praying, a Christian we didn't know felt moved to give us his own. Another time... well, there were many, many times that this kind of thing happened. God always answered our prayers (although it wasn't always the way we had hoped, it was always for the best). Every time I can remember, the worst of the worst ended up being a mixed blessing. With each new disaster, God revealed His love in a way that I could not have possibly seen otherwise. When I lost everything, family, money, friends, pride, intelligence, and finally had nothing else in the world left to fall back on, Christianity stopped becoming the religion it had been, and became a relationship.

The worst times worked out for the very best, in ways that still blow my mind away. But to get to the point, the Lord has always been there for us. In the good times, He gave us unity, recovery, and many other blessings. In the bad times, our trust in Him was never in vain.

I realize that not everyone shares my beliefs, and I don't want to sound like I know it all (because that couldn't be farther from the truth). But what I do know is that, if God didn't love me and actively intervene in my life to show me His love, I would have been dead years ago. Sometimes I forget, or misunderstand, or just ignore it for some reason. But then He reminds me, in some (usually) subtle way, that His love for me is so great, He died to prove it. Sometimes, in watching the tapestries of light in a beautiful sunset, or in listening to the symphonies of a chorus of birds, the God Who Made It All also knew that I'd be there to experience it...and I'm reminded that the same person who created the entire awesome universe would condescend enough to bring me into His family with love.


The peace is priceless.