As my dear friend shared with me this morning that she just wished things were normal again, I thought, and shared back, "Is anything really normal?" We all want normal, but what is that really? Are things normal when life is perfect, and everything is going according to our plan? Is everything normal when we have money, things, and places to go? Is normal when our health is perfection, the sun is shining, and all around us is happy? If so, I don't really think I know what normal is. And when we think about it, is normal really what we want?Nothing happens with normal. Changes do not come. The road doesn't twist, and it never rains upon us. So if we are living "Normal" do we really need the Lord? Do we seek Him daily when things are seeming "Normal"?
I don't think I can ever look back upon my life where there was perfection, where all seemed just right and normal. There seems to be a trial in the midst somewhere always. There always seems to be sickness to deal with. Bills are always there to be paid. Struggles are just a step away, and when the sun is not shining, its raining somewhere.
I must say, I don't think I want perfection right now. There is no such thing as perfection here on earth. The only place we will ever see perfection is in heaven, and there is where we will find normal. The normal and perfection the Lord seeks for us, and is preparing for us. If things were perfect and normal here would we really desire more?
I look around and see hurt, struggle, pain, abuse, sickness, jobless men and women, children in need. I see people seeking a better way. I see people seeking peace. It is in that peace of God that we can find any sense of normal here on earth. All things I cannot understand or explain, but I believe in a God who can, and has a purpose for all around me. I trust in a God who is preparing a home for me like no other. I know a God, my Savior, who has carried me through trials, has given me strength to overcome, and gives me peace in His rest to face the day of the unknown.
I think we are all searching for a normal, but the more I see, the more I understand my life is normal. It is normal to go through pain and suffering. It is through those twists and turns in my life that I have found the Lord leading and guiding me to His perfect path home.
I have a hope in the Lord, a hope that carries me through everything that touches my life. Maybe I wouldn't be seeking so much normal if I was right where I needed to be with Him. If I am where He is calling me to be, If I am walking in the way He has called me to walk, and If I have laid my own will down to follow Him and His will, I will find perfection in Him and only Him. For through every circumstance there is a purpose and plan to bring us back to the place He has called us to be. It is through those circumstances that Jesus shines in all His glory. It happens when we call upon Him, and allow Him to move through us and in all of our imperfections.
It doesn't matter how big our home is, how much money we may gain, who are friends are, or what job we have. None of those things are going to bring normal to our lives. The more we search this world for normal, the more we will find ourselves lost. Stop searching this earth for a "Normal", and we will find our greater purpose in Him.
What is a normal day to this world? We all wake to trials of different kinds. We can get lost in these circumstances around us, unless we are focusing on Him. In all my mixed up days, in all that goes on throughout my day, the only "Normal" is Jesus. When we find Him, when we give all for Him, we will stop searching for that perfect day, those perfect circumstances, and we will find joy, peace and hope in the strangest of places.
Isaiah 40:30-31 "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
