Skip to main content

“The volcanic eruption changed everything there for a while, but not forever.”

A thought by Maria Goff (2017-03-07) from her book, Love Lives Here: Finding  What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want (Kindle Location 603). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Have you ever been to Hawaii?  Our church in Las Vegas helped us to go a few years back.  It is a beautiful Island.  It really is but at one time it was burning hot lava.  Now look at all.  It is beautiful.

Maria said after visiting there with her family, “This place was paradise to us. Exotic plants grew everywhere, birds nested, and gentle waves from the Pacific Ocean lapped up against the shoreline. The volcanic eruption changed everything there for a while, but not forever.” 

She goes on, “Most of us think of paradise as a place where nothing has ever gone wrong. I disagree. We often find our safest and most beautiful places where the lava once flowed. These are places where we’ve been able to find the beauty because we’re not living in the past anymore. We’ve not only outgrown it, we’ve outlived it. It doesn’t always happen fast, but it happens. Don’t let what’s happened in your past stop you from moving forward with your future. Give it some time. We can find our way around the lava where it flowed and build something beautiful on it when it cools. Give it the time it needs, but don’t let your pain fool you into believing it’s never the right time to deal with it.”

Margaret and I went through a lava time in our life.  It was not paradise.  I call it my three-year-jerk-time.  I was not a fun person to live with.  But somehow with God’s love, we grew through it and we are living in paradise right now in our life.  Oh, there are some bugs in paradise but it is such a good time in our life. 

Of course, we had to deal with the problems that caused the eruption.  I had to get my focus off of me and my wants and start focusing on loving God and on loving my family and ministering to their needs and their wants more.  We built a new life in spite of the lava.

So, maybe you are going through a lava time in your life and it isn’t paradise.  As Maria said, “We often find our safest and most beautiful places where the lava once flowed. These are places where we’ve been able to find the beauty because we’re not living in the past anymore.”

So will you start dealing with the lava and start looking for the beauty?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Sometimes we think we’re stuck simply because things are hard.”

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of t...
Post a Comment
Read more