Read:
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Reflect:
How do you feel when things don't go your way?
Looking back, where has doing things your way, so far, led you?
Do you trust God to lead you to life abundant and overflowing? Why or why not?
Remember:
I like things my way. If you're honest, I bet you like things your way too. The problem with that is guess what, we can't always have things our way. We are not the center of the universe, and we are not the end all and be all to all things. We've been trying to rule the world our way since the very first people, Adam and Eve, turned from God's way.
Looking around today, It's obvious that our way has really messed up this beautiful world, and it's really messed up our relationship with our God who created it all. But God is good and His way is perfect in all things. In His good and perfect love for us, He sent the way (Jesus) to us because we could never get back to Him on our own.
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
I grew up really fast and saw death, pain, and true brokenness at just 5 years old. My way and my identity were shattered as a little girl. My older sister, Dianna, was my best friend. She was just one year older than I, and as children we were inseparable. Our family didn't have a lot of money, but we had all we needed living in a small trailer on an old dirt road in the small town of Melrose, Florida; we had each other.
Mom worked at the Christian camp down the road and Dad taught water skiing at that same camp, and was going to University of Florida to get his degree in engineering. Our baby brother Brian was the cutest blue eyed, blond haired 2 year old ever; always calling out to us, "Dina...?! Lawa...?!" I remember it was always with a lisp when he said my name because he couldn't get a grip on that roll in the R sound. My way and my identity then was my family. I couldn't see much beyond the day I was living in and the relationships with the ones I loved. I think most little kids identify in that way.
We sat on the swing set in our friends front yard and sang the Vacation Bible School songs we had learned, at the top of our lungs. You know the ones; "Deep and Wide," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," and 'He's Still Workin On Me." If you don't know them, look them up. They are great songs, simple and fun. They are truth that as kids we need to know and as adults we need to remember. We loved to sing, especially about God. Dianna loved all things God. She gave her life to Jesus and she lived His way. Her favorite passage in the Bible was Psalm 23. She memorized the whole thing at 6 years old and said it every day.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Our family, our relationship with each other, and knowing that the Lord is our Shepard was all we needed in life and we were so happy. Dianna understood what it meant to be led by still waters and in the path of Jesus' righteousness. She lived everyday anointed and with her cup overflowing.
Then the headaches began, all the time for Dianna. They found an inoperable malignant
tumor in her brain. Chemo and radiation began as Dianna started kindergarten. We were separated more and more as she grew sicker
over the next six months. Our family was chosen for a, "Make a Wish Foundation," but the cancer took her so fast that Dianna would never get to see Disney World. Brian and I were sent to a friends house down that old dirt road one morning. When we came home our sister was gone.
My parents were broken, my family was broken, my identity was broken at 5 years old and I felt lost. My lighthouse was gone.
Dianna's big moon shaped blue eyes (clear like the sky on a cloudless day), her pale blond hair in giant waves around her face, her soft and gentle hand always ready to hold mine are fixed in my mind and heart now. She was love to me. She was love to everyone around her. Some children are just a gift and blessing to everyone they interact with and that was Dianna.
Even when she was sick she spent all her time caring for others. In church she encouraged and loved selflessly. She would find the one who sat alone and go sit beside them. Until the very end she gave up her own way and did it God's way. She was a light in the darkness as she lived and loved Jesus' way. I saw Him in her and I am blessed beyond measure to have had her in my life. She knew she was God's daughter and lived in His love for her. Now she is with Him for eternity.
What way have you chosen? There are only two.
You can sing a great song like Frank Sinatra (he actually grew to regret singing and disliked the song very much) with your short life on this earth.
"For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
Yes, it was my way."
Sadly, your way leads death and darkness.
Or you can chose the way to love and life eternal through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, on your behalf.
Can you say right now that you know the way?
Do you know Him? If you feel lost and you want to know this love Dianna knew please contact me. I'd be happy to talk with you about new life and hope in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
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