I was in Hobby Lobby the other day, and while I can spend a great deal of time in that store, somehow, Mom can still out shop me there.
I was about done shopping, and while I waited for her to finish, I wandered by a book display. With nothing better to do, I picked up a book from the discounted bargain bin, and began flipping through it.
Suddenly, the store faded, and I was gripped by a story of tragedy, pain, and God's incredible hand. When Mom was ready to go, I wasn't ready to put the book down, so I purchased that copy of #butGod.
I went back to the hotel room, and finished the book in less than a day. If you're not familiar with the story, it shares the story of the Freeman family, and the car accident that rocked their world, and nearly claimed the life of their son, Caleb, the week before Christmas.
I was drawn in by the family's courage in the midst of such uncertainty, and especially, when I learned that they'd lost another son a few years earlier.
The three biggest takeaways I had from the book were these.
1. Don't let past heartache, limit your faith.
When Mr. Freeman first learned of the accident, and throughout that first awful week, when Caleb was a level three on the coma scale, and not likely to survive, he assumed the worst. After losing a son before, he felt that God would probably take Caleb home too.
That hit me close to home, because there have been so many times that I've assumed the worst in a situation because of a prior experience, and my fears, limit my faith. Mr. Freeman had to come to the place where he could believe that God might heal his son, and in my own life, sometimes I have to fight to get to a place where I can have enough faith to even be willing to pray for a miracle.
2. Some people have it harder than you, some people have it easier than you, and that's okay.
When Caleb was going through months of recovery and rehabilitation, and someone mentioned how hard he had it, he made the comment that, "Some people have it easier than me, and some people have it harder than me." That simple statement reminded me of how easy it is to be out of balance.
We assume that no one is going through what we are, and no one can understand, because no one has life as hard as us. This leads to a woe-is-me attitude, and misery.
OR, we think the opposite. We have life so much easier than everyone around us. We have no right to complain, or even ask for help, or ask for prayer, because we're not dealing with enough to bother other people. No matter how big an issue is to us. This leads to pride, self-reliance, and a wrong view of God, as we view other people's trials as more important to God than anything we face.
To have Caleb's balanced view in life isn't always easy, but it's the right take. Some people will always have some things easier than you, and some people will always have some things harder than you, and God cares about every one of the issues. Big or small, easy or hard, God cares.
3. Don't stop living.
Near the end of the book, Mr. Freeman shared about a missions trip he took, and how God led him to a place where he wanted to live again. He'd accepted the trials in his life, and was serving God, and on the outside, everyone would have said he was really serving God. But inside, he'd built walls.
When things happen in life that hurt, it's easy to build walls around our hearts, and while we keep living on the outside, and doing the right things, we don't want to get to close with people, or love too much, or care too much about anything or anyone, because we're afraid of the pain that love will bring.
In each of our lives, we have to come to the place where we can look past the heartaches, and see God's plan for us to live and let Him love others through us. A place where we can truly live on the inside, as well as the outside.
All in all, it was a great book, and was very encouraging to me.
