It Doesn't Make Sense

Recently, an old friend approached me about the possibility of sitting down to share the story of what I went through when my parents divorced. She said that she was collecting stories of people whose families had been through separation and divorce. Children of divorce who'd somehow made it safely "to the other side". {For lack of much better words.}

My baby brother and I around 1988.

I called my little brother, and we talked about it briefly.

Our parents divorced when I was 22 and my brother was 19. They'd been living apart for a couple of years off and on, and much of their relationship's difficulties stemmed from my father's struggle with alcoholism. Being an adult child of divorce is much different than being a young child of divorce. The perspective completely changes regarding all of the years you've lived as a family unit, and your view of your future becomes all but invisible.

The bottom line for my brother and I, during that brief conversation, was just that it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make any sense that he and I are both still believing God is for us in this life. It doesn't make sense that we have such a healthy, strong relationship as siblings. It doesn't make sense that I'm in a healthy, loving, Christ-centered marriage. It doesn't make sense that my little brother and I are both involved in a thriving, Bible-believing, Spirit-filled church.

It doesn't make any sense...but God.

My mom, brother, dad, and me on my wedding day.

I have always said that I felt that God reached down and plucked Blake and I up out of a situation that could have completely changed the course of our lives. We were at such life-altering ages, and could have completely abandoned our faith based on the decisions our parents made. But God. For whatever reason, our good God saw fit to rescue us. To point us both in a direction toward men and women who would "parent" us when our parents couldn't. To fill our lives with mentors, dear friends, and people who shepherded us through a season that was one of the toughest we'd ever seen.

All I can say is that I'm unbelievably thankful. It doesn't make sense, but I'm so thankful.

So thankful that what may not make sense to me somehow makes sense to God.

O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders

for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list.

{Psalm 40:5a}