Just When You Think You Have It All Together......

I think if my parents had to choose the one phrase they heard the most in our household growing up, it would be, “THAT'S NOT FAIR!”.  And every time someone said that, we’d all roll our eyes knowing what was coming from my mom, “L-I-F-E'S NOT FAIR!”

I used to hate that phrase, until I experienced a little more of life and then realized that it couldn't be more true!  (don’t you hate it when your parents are right?)

Have you ever experienced a time in your life when you felt like you were handed one sucker punch after another?  2010 was “that year” for my husband and me.  Here’s a little re-cap of how it went:

The first week of January started with an unexpected death in our family.  Two weeks later, we were hit with some serious damage to our home to the tune of about $25,000.  It took almost 5 months and a not-so-fun dance with the insurance company to get things fixed and put back together.  Just when we took a deep breath and put all that behind us, the summer hit, and our less than year old A/C unit decided to quit.  We spent most of that hot summer without air conditioning in our home until the company finally decided to stand behind their product and replace the unit.  During that time, we took a road trip and on the way home, the A/C in our car also went out.  


Okay - now we were beginning to wonder who had it out for us, and what we had done to deserve so much thrown at us in one year.  Nonetheless, we tried our best to laugh it all off and look forward to the fall and the upcoming holidays.  Well, the fall brought about uncertainty in my husband's job, and then at the end of September, we received a letter that would change the course of the next several months—we had been randomly chosen to be audited by the IRS.  Super!  I’ll spare you the details of that awful story, but let’s just say that Christmas of 2010 was spent wondering if we were going to spend 2011 in complete financial ruin.  

The dawning of New Year usually feels like a fresh start, but we were pretty drained, and it was hard to feel renewed after the beating we felt we had taken in the previous year. But we hired a great CPA to handle the audit and by the end of January, I was finally feeling a little better.  That is until I got the phone call that shattered my entire world—the call in which my beloved dad told me he was battling a rare form of cancer for which there is no cure.

I retreated from life for a while.  I couldn’t understand.  Why was this happening?  What had we done to deserve all of this?  Was God punishing us?  Why does it feel like just when I'm recovering from one thing, something else smacks me right back down?  

It was at that point that I was living out my favorite advice from my pastor—Get up, suit up, show up and do the next right thing.  Honestly, that’s all I could do.  In fact, there were some days when just the "getting up" part seemed like a humongous task.  And then go through my day with a smile?  Yeah right....all I wanted to do was cry.  I wasn’t mad at God for all that had happened, I just couldn’t understand.  And you know what God said to me?  “That’s right Karyn, you don’t understand…and guess what…you don’t have to.  Let it go, I’m the One in control here.”  That's when it all changed.

As a songwriter, people ask me all the time where I get inspiration for songs.  Well, as you can imagine, the best songs come from real life and these experiences were giving me a LOT to write about.  One day it hit me—all that had happened may not have been fair, but when I looked closer I realized:  #1. I’m not starving; #2. I still have a roof over my head; #3.  I have a husband who adores me; and #4. up to this point, I can still pay my light bill!  Victory!  It was during this time that I wrote a song with my friend Bernie Nelson that starts off saying:

I never had a day that I went hungry

Never had a night I had no place to sleep

Never had a prayer that went unanswered

You might be wondering how that could be

So I’m right here living in the moment

To tell the truth I just don’t really care

All that much about tomorrow

Cuz I know, He’s already there

Maybe you’re experiencing a tumultuous 2011. Maybe you just received the phone call I got on February 4^th of this year, and someone you love is battling a disease that’s out of your control.  Maybe your boss just called you in and told you that “you're not the right fit for the company anymore” and you no longer have a job.  Whatever it is—maybe you’re the one feeling pretty beat up right now.  

The harsh reality is this—life isn’t fair.  And it’s never going to be.  We can't control what other people throw at us, and we don't know exactly what God has in store.  But fortunately, we get to decide HOW we handle it all.  We can either resist it and live life miserably, or we can go out and buy a catcher’s mitt and start catching all the wild pitches!   

My dad said recently about his cancer, “Apparently I had more to learn in this life, and this cancer is going to be my teacher.”  Are you kidding me?!  He is viewing the worst thing that’s ever happened to him as his teacher?  Wow!  That’s pretty great perspective.  Have you ever looked at your challenges as God's teaching tools?

If you’re walking through a valley right now, keep your chin up and know that the Lord is right there with you through all the tough stuff in life.  Even when it doesn’t make sense, believe it or not, He does everything out of love and He has carefully mapped out a plan for your life.  Just get up, suit up, show up, do the next right thing, and then trust Him with the results!  Don't fight the current--it might just be carrying you somewhere beautiful that you never expected. 

And as for tomorrow?  Well, as hard as it is sometimes, try not to worry about it, because you can be sure that He’s one step ahead of you.  Yup—He’s already there.

Until next time....Dare to Live!

Karyn

Click here to listen to "He's Already There"