What's your wild ride of choice?

Let’s hear it for Friday. Louder! I can’t hear you …It has sure been a week, hasn’t it?  Do your weeks sometimes remind you of that college challenge to see how many grown people can fit into a telephone booth? Or maybe a Volkswagen Bug? I realize some of you might not even know what a phone booth is. I’m sure those who don’t are the one who will know how to Google it. Weeks are always busy, some of them more regimented and packed than others. I looked around at what I think is my house and remembered a phrase my dad used to describe my authentically teenager room….like an explosion in a mattress factory. If you can picture that, you would also know why I couldn’t let you in if you came to visit right now. And to this, I tell myself, the weekend is coming – and it’s just about here.  A few more hours and then – – –  I am praying that God gives me the desire of my heart. Psalm 139 tells me that He knows all about me, knows my thoughts, and understands what will bring calmness to my spirit. No matter what, God is there.
I was talking with God a couple days ago; nothing new there.  He’s used to me pestering him on a regular basis, but I had to ask him.  “Lord, I think you have me mixed up with someone else.  You see Lord, I’m not the girl who loves roller coasters.  I’m the one who thinks a wild ride is the merry-go-round.”  And to that, he answered with memory after memory of blessings in my life. In times when the roller coaster was at the top of the peak to the times when life went crashing to the bottom of the pit, he was there. Isaiah 48:17 This is what the Lord says “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
I have to believe that because this is how we live real life.  We rise up, and we fall down.  What goes up, must go down. But the key is being able to ride the waves and not fall off.  Not lose our faith. In these days, aren’t you thankful that the valley lasts only a little while and we start the trek upward again. Jeremiah 3:15 offers this small glimmer of encouragement  “Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.”  I love that because it’s a hidden promise that we aren’t in the game alone.  We might have to find counselors and mentors, maybe a trusted pastor, to help us get back up the mountain. And sometimes we find leadership through the gift of solid friendships.
I’m not the roller coaster girl. My idea of life is the smooth ride of the merry-go-round.  You might have read about it in my blog “For $1 you can see the world”.  https://wp.me/p29Llt-3o
In all things – I know the truth of  Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord said “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”  On the roller coaster of life, it’s good to know the one whose love is everlasting is sitting right next to me, showing kindness – and teaching me to be more like him and to not lose faith.  He is Able.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Pyu97gO_A
 

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