If we had Known... part 2

      The story...From the rural Illinois countryside, to the woods and streams of the Upper Peninsula. From corn stalks, to tree trunks. From an establishing farm, to establishing another farm. From a mission field of sorts, to another mission field of sorts. This was...so we thought, God’s plan. We were going to move: to uproot ourselves after over seven years of living in Illinois, and replant ourselves in Michigan. 

      Well...as far as we could discern, that door closed just as firmly as it had opened. Why? It had been so spine-shiveringly clear, down to the very house we were to live in, and the very church we were to attend. Why? In addition to God’s direction, we genuinely liked the UP. My family and I had been “much taken” by its natural beauty. It fit our desires to the “T”...or did it? We had seen God direct our steps, pointedly guiding us to a new home and a new work for Him. Why?

      God knows our desires. His infinite understanding of the souls of men allows Him to lead us to plain paths when the paths are not plain to mortal eyes. His providence is not troubled by human difficulties. His mind is not limited to our hemisphere. To say that I know entirely why the Lord lead our family to the UP, but not to actually move there; why we spent months searching for His will and ended up in... Montana of all places; to say I  know entirely why God led us in the way that He did would be ridiculous. His ways are passed finding out. As Isaiah says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

      While we don’t know entirely why, God has been revealing to our family part of the why  behind His leadings, a why that we really could not have dreamed up. We are not always given the reasons behind God’s leadings. Sometimes we can see them only in retrospect. Sometimes we will not know until eternity. Right now, it is delightful to trace the providences of God, and His very special leadings over the passed few years. In His all-knowing wisdom, God knew why He was leading us to north-west Montana. As I review the way the Lord has led, I can say as a wise woman said, “Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” - {LDE 72.1}