I believe that God’s will is about the kinds of people we
are becoming. The choices and decision we
make—about where to live and where to work, about our relationships and responsibilities,
and about how to use time, money, and talent—matter most of all because of the
way those choices shape and express our identities.
As we live in partnership and friendship with God, God uses
our experiences to mold our personalities.
It’s not so much that God sends or causes those experiences (I don’t
believe God causes the wounds which come to us, but is with us as we undergo
them). Instead, God is endlessly
resourceful to use whatever happens to us for what Irenaeus, in the second century,
called “soul-making.”
our experiences to mold our personalities.
It’s not so much that God sends or causes those experiences (I don’t
believe God causes the wounds which come to us, but is with us as we undergo
them). Instead, God is endlessly
resourceful to use whatever happens to us for what Irenaeus, in the second century,
called “soul-making.”
God can use failure to teach us about grace and forgiveness,
success to teach us about gratitude and responsibility, and doubt to remind us
about the vastness of reality and the mystery which remains for us to
explore.
success to teach us about gratitude and responsibility, and doubt to remind us
about the vastness of reality and the mystery which remains for us to
explore.
God can use the irritating and crazy-making people in our
lives to teach us patience and strength.
lives to teach us patience and strength.
God can even use pain and tragedy to speak to us about the
fragility and neediness of our own lives and about the restoring power of God’s
love. Just as the cross did not defeat
God’s purpose in Jesus, no struggle we experience can finally frustrate God’s
purpose in us.
fragility and neediness of our own lives and about the restoring power of God’s
love. Just as the cross did not defeat
God’s purpose in Jesus, no struggle we experience can finally frustrate God’s
purpose in us.
We have less control than we sometimes think over what
happens to us. Because of God’s faithful
and tender presence, we have more ability than we realize to allow whatever
happens to become a channel of learning, healing, and growth.
happens to us. Because of God’s faithful
and tender presence, we have more ability than we realize to allow whatever
happens to become a channel of learning, healing, and growth.
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