pivotal circumstances

i actually really enjoy days where i can spend time cleaning and organizing things, as weird as that may sound. i feel like i'm never at my apartment very much so the weekends that i have free, i try to stay home and relax and get caught up on things. after church this morning, i spent about an hour on the phone with my best friend and then cleaned until just now...7:30 in the evening. my closet was a disaster and i spent over an hour cleaning and organizing it. as much of a neat freak as i am, my closet tends to get messier faster than anything else. the rest of the apartment is pretty much always spotless but whenever i'm in a hurry and clothes fall off the hangers onto the floor, i just shut the door and keep on going. so needless to say, i had my work cut out for me today :) but its done and i have all my pumpkin scented candles lit so the rest of the evening is mine to relax!
this week at church finished up our six part series, "five things God uses to grow your faith." it was one of the best sermon series i've heard in a long time. andy spoke on five different things that are used by the Lord in order to stretch and grow and refine our faith. things such as private disciplines, providential relationships, and more. today's was on pivotal circumstances. the whole series has been good but today's was the best, in my opinion at least. a lady shared her story at the beginning in a video that was a minute or two long. she said that she had been trying for a long time to find a job and after a long search, she believed that she had. she had three interviews with the company, they showed her where her office would most likely be, etc... she started getting things together to move and to start her new job and out of nowhere, the company called and said that they ended up giving the position to someone else. the lady was so upset and cried and couldn't understand why the Lord would have let this happen. fast forward a few weeks and september 11th, 2001 happened - the building was hit - and everyone in the building where she hoped to have gotten the job never made it out alive. she said that now whenever she doesn't understand something, all she has to do is think "september 11th - HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING." it just gave me chills to hear that.
its so true that the Lord always knows what He is doing. a few different things have happened over the past year that have made me question Him and wonder why they were happening. however, looking back, He knew exactly what He was doing. its also true that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. my faith has been challenged more over the past year than in all of my 26 years put together. i've questioned a lot and thought a lot but one thing has always remained the same: i trust the Lord implicitly. no matter what happens in my life, He is in control. even when my dad got diagnosed with cancer this year, i trusted Him. He always has a reason, even if it doesn't make sense to me at the time. i've learned just how much He loves me by seeing how much He protected me from. no matter what temptation i am up against, He always provides a way out. i've seen Him take things into His own hands in order to protect me from myself and i've learned that His love is absolutely unconditional. i'm sure that my faith will be tested many more times as the years go by and i hope to always remain as steadfast as i am right now. He always has reasons for things and He loves me more than i'll ever understand. i love looking back at my life and seeing all that He has done...and i will always place my trust in Him.