A change of plans

I can remember a time when I had my life figured out – everything from what I wanted to be when I grew up to what I would major in to where I wanted to live. I was confident and felt blessed as I entered college and completed my first year, knowing my life plan while others around me seemed to gasp for air at just the thought of what would happen after college.

All that changed over the course of my second year as God began to speak to me in different ways. I knew he was telling me my life was not going to follow the path I had previously desired. I knew I needed to make a change. But I felt so comfortable, so set in my plans that I resisted. My first year of college, everything went the way I planned. I wasn’t about to change my life goal, everything I had worked for, just like that.

Fortunately, the more I resisted, the more miserable I became. I felt as if I were carrying a burden. My heart became heavy. I was scared, and I knew why. I thought God was asking too much of me. I grew nervous with the thought of him desiring me to do something I was not ready for. This was my life, after all, and I had a plan.

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

I wish I could say these words belong to me, my response to God’s gentle whispers. But these were the words of a young teenage girl after being told she would become pregnant through the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son. Not knowing what went through her head after hearing this, these words are all we have for understanding the character of the one who was highly favored by the Lord.

Hearing the words of the angel, Mary must have known the social ramifications this would bring for her and her family. I wonder if she was too overwhelmed at the time to think about it or if the fear of being stoned was in the forefront of her mind. Either way, her reaction is unbelievable. Her innocence is revealed in her question of how this would happen, which is followed by her response of faith and obedience.

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

This change in Mary’s life plan could have killed her. It could have lost her the man she was betrothed to. It could have caused her family to completely disown her. And her response? Complete trust that God had it all under control. Knowledge that she is not the author of her life, but she is the servant of the Lord.

I wish this had been my own response as God told me my life was about to change. Yet I resisted, and I didn’t even have to deal with the fear of death nor the fear of losing family over this change. Mary is one of the most inspirational women of history because of her obedience. We are not in control of our future. We do, however, have the choice of either obedience or resistance.

When I gave my future over to God and changed my major, which drastically changed everything about the direction of my life, I felt an unexplained peace. The burden vanished, my heart was no longer heavy. Now, with one semester left of college, I cannot imagine doing anything else. How could I not have trusted that God knew what he was doing? Why did I believe the lie that Satan fed me about not being ready to be used by God?

Mary was greatly troubled when the angel first revealed himself to her. But her fear did not stop her from trusting God and following the path he had for her. My prayer is that with each opportunity and each change God brings into my life, I will learn from my past and learn from Mary as I respond to the Lord.

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

  

   

Storming the beach

Imagine staring death in the face. Imagine knowing that you are about to die in a foreign country, and the majority of people whom you are dying for do not even know your name. Now imagine having the courage to continue on in the face of this almost certain death.

The men who fought gallantly during the D-Day Invasion did not have to imagine these things. They lived each one June 6, 1944. As 160,000 Allied troops approached the French coastline, there was no time for second guessing and no time for turning back in fear. There was only moving forward.

It takes more than courage to do something like that. It takes the belief that what you are fighting for is of greater worth than your life. These soldiers clearly believed that protecting this country, and the world, carried more importance than their own life. They were able to put aside everything of comfort and familiarity for the future of millions of people.

“We've got to remember the folks who did it and those who still do it – the one percent who go into harm’s way for the benefit of the (other) 99 percent,” Dave De Soucy, a retired officer who served in combat during the Vietnam War, said in an article on the United States Army’s website.

This day in United States history could arguably be one of the most important days in our past. This was the beginning of the end for Hitler. It was a huge step in ending World War II. But it was also the end of thousands of soldiers. Their last act on this earth was fighting for freedom for not only their family, but also for strangers.

How should this knowledge affect the way we as Americans live our lives? Should knowing that men who fought nearly 70 years ago to ensure that we can live in freedom influence us in any way?

If this knowledge affects anything, it should at least affect our pride in this country and in our soldiers. We should take pride in the fact that these men took enough pride in their country to give up their lives for its safety and for the safety of those living in it.  

“It is important that (people) recognize that the freedoms they enjoy today are a result of the sacrifice of millions of people from all over the world that ensured their liberty,” Joseph W. Westphal, under secretary of the Army, said in another article on the United States Army’s website. “No greater act of bravery was ever carried out than that of millions of citizen soldiers, and civilians, who faced and defeated tyranny and rebuilt this country and the world.”

This day should be an inspiration to those of us who may never stare death in the face. It should inspire us to be strong and stand up to whatever our personal Normandy beaches are. And, just as Dwight D. Eisenhower said, we should “accept nothing less than full victory” when we storm these beaches.