It’s been just about a year since I moved from the little house on the lake and completed a life transformation that began about a year before that. Reflecting on the past few years I can see such a difference from where I was then to where I am now, and I owe it all to God. I was defeated, worn out and just going through the motions. Until I began to put my trust in God. I talked to him about my problems, asked him for help, listened, and followed his answers. Yes, God will give us the answers. They may not always be the answers we want or expect but they are the right ones. 

I realized I spent most of my time worrying about material things, wondering how we would find enough money to get all the things we “needed”. There just wasn’t enough. The house needed major repairs, we had black mold, all our appliances needed to be replaced, we were down to one car and that was being held together by duct tape and Bondo. We were both working but even that was tenuous at best, and in the case of my better half she was traveling a long distance every day, putting more stress on the finances. There was no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel.

I had been talking to God for awhile but I still didn’t completely put all my trust in Him. I can best describe it as climbing to the top of a mountain, and when you get to the top you can’t see what is at the bottom on the other side. You can’t stay at the top you either have to go back the way you came, basically starting over, or you can put your trust in God and go into the unknown. I decided I couldn’t go back the way I came so I decided to trust the Lord and head to the unknown. He had taken me this far, there were other times I knew He had been there for me, this time would be no different. I prayed and asked Him for guidance and off I went.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain”; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:13 – 17

You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. You don’t know what is around the next corner.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? – Matthew 6:25

You can only live one day at a time, you can’t change the past and you can’t control the future. You need to trust in God. He will guide you. He will help you.

I think back to a few years ago when I was in a state of despair. I knew not how I would get out of the state I was in, I had given up. The only light at the end of the table was a train. I didn’t know how I could go on. Finally, I decided to just put things into the hands of God. I had realized that He had helped me at other times, although I hadn’t known it at the time, and He would help me now. All I had to do was listen to Him. He would guide me. Now that I do listen and pay attention, He has made a difference, now that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train, it is salvation.

I opened my eyes to all I had and realized how lucky I truly was. I had a roof over my head, even though it was falling down. I have two wonderful kids and six beautiful grandchildren. I have a loving extended family who is there is I need them. And most importantly I have a woman in my life who loves me and who I truly believe God sent to me for us to spend the rest of out lives together. As bad as I thought things were I realized that they could be worse, and all and all it wasn’t so bad. I knew that with the help of God I could get through anything.

I can only hope that others won’t make the same mistakes I did. Listen to what He tells you, see what He shows you. Pay attention. He will guide you. Read scripture and you will learn the things you need to know to have a better life and you too will see that light at the end of the tunnel, and be ready for the next life. The time to start is now.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 2:5 – 6