Forward - Part One
As a child and young woman, I always wanted to see into the future – more specifically, I wanted to see my future. Looking back, I now realize it is a blessing we can't. If we were to see the traumatic and challenging times, would we back out or take steps to avoid them?If we saw the wonderful and heartwarming times, would they be enough to carry us through the rough ones?
And how far would we see? Would we want to see all the way to the end?
There was a time when I was forewarned – well, maybe forewarned isn't the most descriptive word – but in a way, forewarned was exactly what it was.
I was very religious at the time but it was also a time when I found myself at odds with the leadership of my church quite often. I held a high position in the church, one usually reserved for men with doctorates in religious studies, and I was looked up to by most in the area as I was called upon to speak to hundreds on a regular basis.
I loved studying my scriptures and would do so daily. It began seeming more than coincidental when every time I opened my bible it would open to the exact same page in Isaiah. This page described immense suffering that was about to ‘come to pass.' But then it also told of the bounteous blessings that would surpass and follow the suffering.
I know I had other clues along the way, I just can't remember them now, but they were enough that I was pretty certain about what may ‘come to pass' in my life shortly.
I had no clue how it would all come about but I began to ‘sense' somewhere deep inside me that things would soon become rough and that – in time – I would be delivered from it.
I also knew there was a reason for it.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
