As humans its sometimes hard to believe that everything will work out for the best. Especially when it seems like things could only get worse. And a lot of times they do. We might pray without end for God to lead us out of this misery, or for him to grant health–or rain! I talk a lot about rain because we’ve barely received any rain in the last eight months. Two months ago it started raining again, but not very much. Of course for Southwest Kansas one to two inches a month is normal–in the summer it’s a little more than that. But in my life time–of course I haven’t lived very long–it never waited six months to rain. So as farmers we begin to look at the skies twice a day, praying for rain. At least that’s what I did–what I do. But you may be thinking, “Maria there are bigger problems in life than a dry year.” And that’s true, there are bigger problems in life. Way bigger, and I’ve seen some of those too.

You might have noticed before, I mentioned my mom’s health in the first few blog post. Now my mom’s a healthy little lady, but ten years ago it wasn’t like that. My mom fought for her health while she slowly went down, throwing up any food she swallowed. She did this for three years, until they finally agreed to take out her colon. Her colon broke down and no longer processed her foods. Afterwards, it took a long time for her to get back on her feet, and the good Lord new that our family could not have handled that alone, so He sent family to help us along the way.

Now you probably already did the math, but in case you didn’t; I was eight, nine, ten and eleven when all this happened. Like a child, I didn’t notice very much was wrong, until Mom became very skinny and weak. My brother, Benny, and I definitely thought about it, but not enough to truly get us down. I remember when we traveled to the Mayo Clinic for doctor appointments, we would walk around the building, awing at all the cool stuff. It’s a big clinic. And at the hotel we’d get to go swimming and order pizza–we enjoyed it. I think God directed it like that, this way our parents had something to smile about on these trips.

Until Mom scheduled her surgery appointment, and we had to stay at our cousins place, did we really begin to feel the sadness. We saw parents leave with a ten percent chance that Mom would make it through the surgery. We had our cousins and each other, it wasn’t that bad, but the thought was still there.

With this said you know that Mom made it through the surgery and now lives a healthy, happy life. Of course healing took awhile and by then Benny and I were older so we noticed mom’s weakness more, but also, we were able to help out more.

Our family’s very blessed that God granted our mom her health again. But for some people it doesn’t turn out like this. In so many families a parent or spouse does die. And often times we think there is even a greater chance that things will never get better. But other things happen too: war, poverty, hunger, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, shootings, bullying, friends leave or betray you. A lot happens in this world–big or small–when we think we’re forsaken, when we think things will never get better, we can’t see the shining light at the end of the tunnel. But there is light, there is hope, there is love.

I’m almost sure you’ve heard this verse–I’ve even seen it on the back of semi trailers! John three sixteen. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” If you read that first part you’ll notice again where it says, “God so loved the world.” If He so loved the world that He would send His only Son to die on the cross for us, how much does He not love us then! Do you think He would show so much love that one time and then no more? I don’t think so. His love still endures–it endures forever. He still loves us and still won’t leave us. No matter how big . . . or small. His love will not fail us.

Sure. Life is really hard. I’ve only lived through the easy years one might say. The older I get I see that that may be true, but teenage years aren’t all popcorn and sugar either. I’m sure some of you can relate that. Young or old, big or small we all go through difficult times. Let it be, dropping your phone in the toilet, fighting for health, struggling to get by, burning dinner or breaking dishes. Whatever it may be, God’s love endures forever. He cares about us and what we’re going through. He will not leave us. He (Love) will not fail us. (1 John 4:8)