I made it.

March is over and I have marched my way through it.

Most days this month were filled with the mundane.  We also tossed a few extras in there:  vomit, double ear infection, pink eye, days and days of high fever, more earaches, and a case of the hives.  I spent most of the month stuck in the house, looking out the window, longing for a sliver of sunshine to break through the clouds, both literally and figuratively.

Have you had those months?  The ones that you had great intentions and you were going to do amazing things . . . and then it all just crumbles around you?  When things are just okay, which is fine, except this was your month to be big!?

A mysterious package arrived at my doorstep a few days ago.  It was a new book (from my amazing friend, Lisa.  If only you all could be so blessed to have a Lisa in your lives!) by Jerry Sittser called A Grace Revealed.   Jerry lost his mom, wife, and daughter to a drunk driving accident and has written some super thought provoking stuff, as you can imagine.

So the past few days I’ve been pondering how God redeems our lives, how He continues to write our stories during the good times, the bad times, and the normal, everyday times.  He can use it all– He does use it all– and we get a front row seat as we seek to know Him more.

He says, “God is using ordinary people to make the world whole and healthy again.  I wonder how that might be true . . . for you and me?  How might the little story of my life and your life contribute to the bigger story of the world’s redemption?  It is hard to see from day to day, largely because our own stories seem so trivial, meaningless, or random.  We race through life, enduring tragedy, laboring on the job or at home, doing routine tasks, often so distracted by pressures and responsibilities that we lack the time, energy, or even interest to think much about the possible significance of our life story.  We seem like workers on an assembly line who have forgotten to consider the high-end product we are helping to make” (p. 68)

And I am convicted and inspired all at once to use the one life I’ve been given to use the tragedy of my life, the amazing blessings in my life, and all the little nameless, forgettable things in between.  Because more than anything, I want God to redeem my story through His.

Sigh.  Goodbye, March.  Hello April.  It sure is good to see you.