The God of the impossible...

​         Last week, I looked at the story of Cole, who damaged his spine in a diving accident. He subsequently became a quadriplegic and in spite of all of that, has been able to accomplish so much over the past ten years.
         This week I want to go back to that story. You see, we can use his story to talk about being thankful in spite of and even for negative circumstances. He has been thankful for what has happened to him because of all the wonderful experiences he has been able to have. But I look at his life and it reminds me of the reality that God is the God of the impossible. I am pretty sure there were many times when neither he nor his family knew if he was going to make it, especially during the initial stages of his injury. He mentioned that there was one time that he asked for his brother to come and he couldn’t speak so he spelled out for him the words, “KILL ME.” His brother of course wouldn’t do it it and walked away. 
         I am sure there are times in our lives when we feel as messed up as Cole did. It probably wasn’t physically but emotionally, mentally. We were uncertain about our future, about whether or not we would even make it through the season that we were in and that some of us still are in. There may even have been times when we just wanted to end it, just like he did because we could see no hope, no future, no way out. But God...
         I go back to the story of Job. Job probably didn’t and couldn’t see an end to his situation. It was as messed up and as tragic as it could get ... and he wasn’t even at fault! He lost everything, his children, his possessions, his wealth and his health was compromised and in exchange he received shame, disgrace, hurt and pain unimaginable. Think of the shame, the ridicule, the condemnation he must have faced, and we see it in the behavior of his friends who came to visit him, yet, he chose to honor his God. Even when his wife told him to curse God and die, he rebuked her and chose instead to bless God. 
         When we go through, sometimes we face exactly the same thing. People question what we did wrong because it always seems as if it must have been something we did wrong. Even we may question ourselves wondering what we did wrong. But, life isn’t always about being at fault when negative situations come our way. Sometimes, life just happens and even bad things happen to good people. 
         Either way, God is the God of the impossible and we will all face impossible situations in our lives. Even when we want to give up we don’t have that final say, God does. I think God just wants to remind us that He didn’t equip us to be able to handle everything, or else we would never need Him. Our imperfection or rather our human limitation allows God to prove who He really is. If we could handle it on our own, we would not need Him!
         In my own life there have been many times when I have wanted to give up because the situation seemed so impossible. But I remember very clearly that God just would not let me give up! He used different ways to encourage me to keep going. As I focused on the impossibility of the situation, God really wanted me to focus on His “possibility,” His ability to handle what I could not and did not even want to handle. I had to learn to fix my eyes on Him. Recently, I have been hearing Him telling me to look at Him. He knows that if I keep looking at the stormy conditions around me, I would be so discouraged I would give up. So, when it becomes impossible and too much for me to bear, I would hear His firm but loving voice commanding me to look at Him and this brings me comfort and strength. 
         I believe Cole is living his best life now. If he had not gone through what he did, his life would have been good, I’m sure, but it would not have been able to compare to how blessed, how fruitful his life is now. Of course he has bad days, we all do, but he is choosing to truly LIVE in spite of it all. In Christ we too have this privilege. It’s not always about living life our way but God’s way. Trusting Him means that even in the bad times we know that He will bring something good out of it. As I love to say, "God doesn’t waste a thing," and, in the end, even the bad things can turn out to be our greatest blessing!
         If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior, please do so now. You can be certain that God is well able to do in your life what is impossible for you to accomplish.

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