It is Well With My Soul

In the journey of life, if you cannot deal with change, you cannot deal with life. Change is guaranteed. Someone will die, someone will leave, something tragic will happen. It will. None of us are immune.

I cannot choose the trials I will go through. I can't choose the pain I will suffer. I can wallow in sorrow and say "why me?".  But that will not change the circumstance. It won't stop the loss, it won't cure the disease, it won't bring that loved one back. I cannot turn back time. Nothing can.

It may seem that I have no choice in life. It may seem that we all are doomed because we all will one day experience tragedy. Yet in the darkest moments, there is beauty. There is strength we didn't know we had. There is faith that it will get better. There is grace that gives us endurance and cushions us in the arms of peace.

It is then that we know that we can choose. We can choose to live, we can choose to go on, we can choose to accept. We can choose not to look for blame. We can choose to be happy in spite of the circumstances. We can chose to heal. We can choose to forgive. We can choose to look for the positives.  We can choose to be a victor rather than a victim.

It is in knowing that there is choice that we find freedom to go on. Much like the stream that never stops moving, we continue toward the beauty that awaits us. And we find it well with our soul.