Good Ol' Days Part 2

We all have good ol' days.  We look back with longing, hunger even, to the days when life was easier.  Less responsibilities, more fun, fewer wrinkles (oh wait, that's just me), more money or more contentment with less money.

Thirty-four years ago, in August 1979, I moved from Merrillan, Wisconsin, a town of 500 people, to Green Bay, a town of 100,000.  I loved my little town in western Wisconsin, with its small-town values, one-block shopping, short walk to the school where I taught.  But God led me from there in a series of near-miraculous answers to prayer, and here I was in a multi-unit apartment building, far from friends and comforts.  And while I was happy to be here, I mourned the loss of so much intimacy that comes with small-town living.  I longed for the good ol' days. 

There came a night when I was so sad and lonely in this big place that I cried out to God:  Surely I've misread your signs, God, and I came here without your permission.  Surely I'm out of Your will for my life.  Surely, the cucumbers and leeks in Merrillan were much tastier than they are here. [See Numbers 11:4]  Oh Lord, I will quit my job today if that's what You want.  Just give me friends and comfort again!

What I failed to understand about God's will for me was that it isn't always easy and comfortable and pleasant.  Sometimes it's hard, and requires suffering.  If God's purposes for us are always to draw us to Himself in trust and joy and to make us like Himself (see Romans 8:29), then there will be times it won't feel good. 

The same was true for the Israelites.  God loved them and wanted them to trust Him as they came out of the furnace of Egypt.  Instead they complained and whined and wept. 

In my weeping that night in 1979, I opened the Scriptures randomly and came upon Psalm 30:5: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.  It was enough.  I knew God had heard my prayer, and was in the process of answering. 

Little did I know then that a week or so later, I would meet my best friend for life, Dennis. 

God always knows the end of the story from the beginning.  Can you trust Him for that? 

Please share your stories of learning to trust with us below.