What I need...

This year has been filled with unexpected experiences... 

Times of storm amid clear sky, light amidst shadow. 

There have been moments when I've looked to the heavens and wondered why things happen the way they do. At times the answers seem slow in coming...

There is a song at the end of The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean that struck me the first time I heard it, and each time I've heard it since - perhaps because it encompasses some of these same sentiments. It is a reminder that though I may not understand completely - indeed even when I "see through a glass darkly" - there is One who sees the end from the beginning.  I have to believe that He who knows when each sparrow falls has not forgotten His children. He knows where I began, why I am here, and where I am going even when the way seems far from clear. He knows what I can endure even when I do not. I need to have faith that I will be given what I need, even if it is not necessarily what I planned or hoped for. I have to believe that in the eternal perspective - to paraphrase the song - all I ever want, all I ever dream of, everything I hope and all the things I pray for can't hold a candle to what I'll be given when I've been given what I need...

What I Need
(The Forgotten Carols - Michael McLean)

All I ever wanted

All I ever dreamed of

Everything I hoped

And all the things I prayed for

Couldn't hold a candle 

To what I've been given

I've been given what I need

A mansion on a hill

Or love like in the movies

Perfect little lives

Where no one has a problem

Instead of all those things

I thought I really wanted

I've been given what I need

Even when I didn't understand

When I thought you had no heart

Thank you for rejecting my demands

And always giving me the better part

All I ever wanted

All I ever dreamed of

Everything I hoped

And all the things I've prayed for

Couldn't hold a candle 

To what I've been given

I've been given what I need