Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones?

by Dianne Sackrider


My Pastor preached a great sermon on Sunday about taking time to look back over the past year and to ask ourselves what could we have done better…

Now my first thought was to pat myself on the back for a year of good choices.  After I got past my puffed up self, I really began to look at the year with a heart of truthfulness.  I remembered there were some places that I stumbled and got tripped up.  There were some situations that caught me off guard as well. 

But also in that time of reflecting, I was able to see that God walked with me through some very difficult times.  Like my mother being diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 lung cancer.  I had to choose to look beyond the facts of that diagnosis and put my faith in action to trust God for her healing.  And you know what?  She is cancer free!   She is alive and living a victorious life.  Another difficult situation I faced was having my youngest daughter and her husband move out of state.  That was tough.  It became even tougher when I found out she was going to have a baby and I was not going to be able to walk with her through this joyful season.  It stung.  Yet, she and her husband are doing wonderful, the baby is growing strong and healthy and we will get to go meet our newest granddaughter in April.   

I also discovered as I looked back, that God had completely healed my broken heart and brought restoration to many of the broken relationships that had resulted from that broken heart.  Just that reminder alone brought a great big smile to my face!  The job I had lost 2 years ago was replaced this year with one that is better than I could have ever dreamed of.  The location is less than 3 miles from my house.  The people are all precious and love God wholeheartedly and the increase in my salary is incredible!

So, those stumbling blocks that the enemy meant for harm, just proved to be stepping stones that God used for my good!

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