The wedding was called off. Your dream job has fallen through. A friend has died unexpectedly. On this edition of Live the Promise Susie talks with Laurie Short; we explore the steps to take when our dreams take a detour.
For Laurie, the detour came in the form of a failed relationship. “Like many women, I waited [for a husband]… In my forties I began to wonder if God and I were speaking different languages. I really felt that He was keeping something that I really wanted.” Laurie finally became engaged in her forties and then in a difficult series of events, her soon-to-be-husband reconciled with his ex-wife. She describes the process of bringing her fiance and his ex-wife back together as “a crisis of faith – I almost felt like I was the sacrificial lamb”
Laurie wrestled with the “why” question. She shares some of her own hard-earned lessons.
“As much as we might want a different story to live, we need to know that pain is packaged differently in every person’s life.”
“We tend to end the story when we’re in the middle of a chapter we don’t like.”
“We have a choice to lean on God and trust Him, or pull away in fear.”
“We have to look at our life with eyes of faith to know that something is happening with our lives that we can’t see.”
By leaning on God, Laurie started sharing her own story, helping others heal, and seeing how God was using her pain. Eventually God brought another man into Laurie’s life – in His own perfect timing. “My wedding was amazing – so much more beyond a wedding because it really was a testimony of God.” In fact, the verse on the front of their wedding program was Genesis 18:14, and it sums up the whole discussion – “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
Key Scriptures: Psalm 131; John 21:18-23
Theme Song: I Am Not Alone by Kari Jobe
