9/19/07:

"God Working Overtime" - by Tom McCarthy

As we go through life, we naturally hope to have healthy families, great friends, loving relationships, and strong faith lives.  We want things to go smoothly, and we do our best to make sure that happens.  However, we undoubtedly run into obstacles, challenges, trials and tribulations.  Relationships end.  A loved one becomes ill.  A close friend struggles with a problem.  We wind up in places and situations we never would have imagined.

    Eight years ago this month, my family and I went through a time like this.  As a kid, two of my biggest fears were that my family would somehow become divided and that I would have to leave my home and community.  Well, these fears became reality when my parents suddenly divorced.  My mom, my younger sister, and I had to abruptly move from Cleveland, Ohio to Wisconsin.  All of this happened literally within a matter of days when I was 11 years old, and my whole world was basically turned upside-down.  The challenges that resulted for all of us as we started our lives over seemed impossible to overcome.

    Challenges like these test us in all sorts of ways: personally, emotionally, spiritually.  I think how we respond in these kinds of situations is very important.  Our reactions shape how we grow in our faith.  We can respond to these types of challenges positively or negatively, in faith or in doubt.  All sorts of questions may go through our minds during these difficult times.  “Why is this happening?  What did I do to deserve this?”  or  “How am I ever going to get through this?”

    Of course, as a young kid eight years ago, I was thinking many of those same questions.  Thankfully, my mom, in all her wisdom, taught me an important lesson about life.  She told me that God has a plan for each one of us.  Now, I realize that this idea can be very hard to understand and accept, especially when things aren’t going our way.  I was no exception.  However, I have to believe that everything happens for a reason according to God's will.  I mean, I have to believe this in order to accept the difficult things that happen in life.

    Well, if you believe that, the next question that might come to mind is “What is God's will?”  While I know we can never fully understand God's will, I do believe that we can usually find some way in which God is working to fulfill His plan.  These ways might not seem obvious during the tough times.  If fact, it might seem like those are the times when God really isn't working in our lives.  But I don't believe that.  I think God is working overtime while we are struggling.

    In my own life, for example, God brought me closer to some family here in Wisconsin that I didn't even really know when I lived in Ohio.  We get together all the time now.  Also, if we had not moved to Wisconsin, I never would have wound up at Lourdes High School and here at St. Norbert College (where I've met so many great friends and mentors).  God showed me who my parents really are – my Mom an amazingly strong and wise woman, and my Dad a person with some very serious problems that nobody knew about.  Ultimately, I think the things I went through back then have helped make me a more understanding and caring person now.

    To me, asking the right questions in times of pain & struggle is so vitally important.  “What is God's Will?  How might God be working in my life right now?  What is His plan for me?”  Asking those kinds of questions, in a positive and faithful tone, can help you understand that He is with you through it all.  Let this understanding bring you God's peace.