The Things That Did Not Happen...

 

We were recently blessed to be able to take a time away from the farm and decided (after visiting my dad and his wife) that we'd head for The Great Smokey Mountains near Gatlinburg, TN.

The fall foliage was fabulous and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.  The little village we stayed in was quaint, very quiet and relaxing--the perfect place for two people to relax who are always running at 110 miles per hour.

We both love to hike but after seeing one too many warning signs about recent bear attacks and increased bear activity in the mountains we decided to stay off the trails and tour the area via car--not quite as exciting as hiking, but much safer.  We must have stopped hundreds of times to take pictures and enjoy God's beautiful creation.

Our time away ended much too quickly--as it always does--and as we packed the rental car the morning we were to leave for home we saw that something had damaged our car. Now, when I say damage, I mean: back car fenders were ripped out of their pop rivets and hanging down, the back bumper was literally pierced through in several places and there were scratches all over the car.  Our car had been attacked by a bear--a not so happy bear.

It took a little while to sink in but once we realized what had happened we packed the car--really, really quickly, looked nervously over our shoulders and prayed.  We weren't sure if "Mr. Happy" was still in the area and we were taking home lots of leftover food we hadn't eaten on our trip--food that a bear would really be happy to devour.

My husband got a little grumpy as visions of dollar signs and explaining to the rental car company that a bear attacked our car danced through his head.  "It's kind of like telling the teacher the dog ate your homework", I said to my husband trying to lighten the mood in the bear-attacked car.  But, as he saw dollar signs as he thought about the attack, I felt God telling me, "I had  my hand on you and protected you from something really bad".

Though my husband wasn't ready to hear what God had said to me, I started thinking back over the years and many of the times God had kept situations in my life from being worse then they were.  No, I have not led a charmed life, but each instance I recalled in those moments could have been much more damaging or impacting then they were.  I have had many difficulties--yes--but I could always understand that God's hand was on me and that He kept me from things that would have been unbearable.

I was recently talking to my wonderful friend, Mary Ann, and recounted some of the things in my life that had been most difficult.  I ended up saying to her that yes, difficult things had happened, but I was most thankful for the things that had not happened.  She looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Most people think only of the bad things that happen and focus on them instead of looking at what could have been and being thankful to God that those things did not happen". 

Truthfully, it has taken me some time and space away from many circumstances to develop an attitude of thanking God for things that did not happen.  I feel like I am still a novice at it, sometimes, but I make it a point to try and give things back to God when I know my human tendency is to hold on to them, internalize them, and make them part of who I am instead of them being just something that happened to me (that could have been much worse).

Everyone has trials and tribulations--it's part of being human.  Many of the things that happen to us, especially as children, are not physically in our control.  How we handle those times (as adults) is in our control. What we do about and with those times makes the difference between allowing something to control and divert our life's mission or allowing that very difficult thing to become a place we can meet others at and allow God to touch and heal and become more usable to Him. 

It's a conscience choice we make each day--but only a choice (I believe) we can make with God's continual intervention and our continual prayers to Him.  With practice and God's love and guidance, we can be thankful for the things that did not happen...


Shepherdess Blog
 October 30,2012
Copyright 2012 Jackie Deems