My times are in His Hands

Looking back over my life there have been a lot of ups 
and downs…

Times I devalued life, wasted time…  5 years of experimenting with drugs, smoking pot at high school, partying, and taking foolish risks. When I cried out to God, He met me on the tundra of Alaska and said, “I am.”

Times I felt alienated…  landing in the jungle for the first time in March, pregnant and with 2 toddlers, I thought I would melt into the ground when the heat hit my northern winter white skin. God showed me that I can slay dragons.

Times I questioned life, my purpose or my competence…  Lord! I’ll never learn this language and I don’t even love these people!  He showed me a fig tree and spoke about doing the impossible.

A Time I prayed to die…  didn’t know if I would ever walk again, I was loaded onto the metal floor of a small plane and bounced through a tropical storm in excruciating pain with a newborn at my side that I couldn’t nurse. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.

And a Time I prayed to live…  opening my eyes to the long blade of a bush knife and the black grimacing face and red teeth of a crazy man over me. I learned about surrender to the Almighty.  

Times I felt discouraged and thought about quitting. God raised a woman from the dead and sent her back to the tribe with a message to listen to his servants! I learned that God knows what he’s doing in our lives.

Times I feared what lie ahead of me…  I told the hospice nurse, when I come down here and find myself the only one left I’m going to hit the deck… but God showed up in my burning bush!

A Time I felt condemned…  and He painted a Michelangelo in the sky! 

A Time I determined to hear God or die trying… and I only missed lunch before He lovingly revealed his plan.

Times I felt alone…  and He gave me flowers and said, “I’m still here Karen.”

A Time I felt handicapped and didn’t know how to go on…  and He lifted my head again and talked to me about heaven, “You’re halfway home! You’re in the spring-step to heaven.”

In ALL my times the LORD my GOD has proven faithful to me! 

He is Elohim, the strong and faithful One who parts the waters and leads us through the Red Sea!

This list describes incidents from my life story documented in the memoir, Crickets and Thunder.