Happily Ever After

By Janet Morris Grimes –

“I did not see that coming.”

I can’t tell you how many times I have uttered that phrase in the past month and year. Well, make that four years.

Over this time span, our family has relocated due to my husband’s job transfer. Twice. My daughter has started over at two new schools, once in her Freshman year and again for her Senior year of high school. I have given up two jobs that I was good at, only to find that my value was tied in to the amount of money I made much more than I realized. Our twelve-year-old minivan, all 250,000 miles of it, surrendered in a trail of steam, smoke and a stream of what I interpreted to be curse words coming from its exhaust pipe. I have applied for a bazillion job openings, only to find that I am not the only one doing so.

I have questioned my existence along the roadways of four different states, and come up with only one explanation for the strange path my previously predictable life has taken.

I am not in control of it. After all this time, that’s all I can come up with.

And somehow, that frees me from both the past and the future, enough to enjoy the present.

Whether I saw it coming or not, God did. He’s got it covered.

And I can add this to the list of the things I did not see coming over these past four years. Our daughter graduated from high school with honors, and with new friends in several different states. God has expanded our territory and introduced us to some of the nicest people we have ever met. I have been given the opportunity to focus on writing—an answer to prayer I had forgotten I had prayed. God calls me to meet Him outside on a daily basis; on the deck, on morning or evening walks, by the lake, in the woods. Wherever He calls me, He always seems to be thrilled to find me ready to listen.

And this is what He’s proven to me, after 28 years of marriage. Happily Ever After comes one day at a time, one week at a time, one year at a time. Or in our case, one state, one new job, one transition, one new home at a time. Happily Ever After does not depend on our revolving circumstances. It depends on our ability to let God shine through those circumstances.

Because God is never surprised by our circumstances. He is already there, in the midst of them.

“You hem me in, behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” (Psalm 139:5 NIV)