65 months ago I watched someone turn take David’s advice and put it to work. The advice sounds simple, but the steps that followed were anything but. “Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don’t quit.” (Psalm 37.27) So much has happened in during this time. As I looked back, I do not think my best scenario included what I can see today. I see a young adult – clean, sober, and focused. I see someone that is able to smile and laugh while wrestling with the demons that haunt us. I am impressed with her endurance. I can see hope in the angelic embrace.
I know it is easy to get lost in only seeing the good that is real. I cannot forget the dark days with difficult conversations, quiet times of aloneness, and fleeting glimpses of the future. In those moments, as much as I wanted to be positive, I had a hard time believing that victory was possible. Everything positive in those dark moments seems small.
In the days to come, there will be much celebration. I will quietly watch from a distance, my heart and prayer resting on those who are present. It will not be easy but there is a bigger story unfolding. A child of God has let an angel lay out a path of redemption and hope. Once wandering, now found. Once determined to be lost, now on a path of giving back to others.
I do not know what the future holds. I know it is better than what I can imagine! I believe it is filled with moments of compassion. Given the challenges ahead, it will have its share of laughter and tears.
As I look to day and the steps ahead, I find courage in the living example that has been set. In darkness, we have a God that is always willing to be with us. As alone and abandoned as we might feel, God with us is a living experience always within our grasp.
Thank-you God for living miracles; each is awesome.
