AMAZING AND ALWAYS THERE
Book Commentary
All morning I wondered what to write about. It's been a while since I've written and I'm feeling a bit rusty. But on Thanksgiving day there's really only one topic that's fitting. But the subject of being thankful came to me in a most unusual way, so I'm passing it on to you in the same way I received it myself...through a book.
The amazing thing is that I was led to this book through another book. "Twelve Days Out With God" is an inspiring hands-on workbook that challenges readers to find God in our everyday lives.
The book is based on the passionate belief that God can be found everywhere we go and he is always willing to share himself with us. At a restaurant, a museum, an amusement park and several other places, readers explore their surroundings and record their experiences as God reveals himself in amazing ways.
The Library is where I chose to look for God in my next assignment, so I grabbed my workbook and headed to the new library in Lykens, which I hadn't seen yet. The workbook instructed me to start in the biographies section and just browse the titles until something caught my eye. Within minutes a very familiar book cover stopped my roving eyes.
"God Said Yes" was the title and what amazed me was the fact that I had held that very same book in my hands just days earlier. That book had caught my eye while looking through a selection of books at a gift shop. I had picked it up and read the inside cover and the back. I had paged through it and read some passages. I was even tempted to buy it. But the sad subject matter made me change my mind and I put the book back on its rotating shelf.
Now, here was that very same book staring back at me once again. Was this God's choice of books for me? It had to be. That's how he works. When something keeps falling into my lap, I've learned to pay attention to it. That book was begging to be read by me and I couldn't wait to discover why.
"God Said Yes" is the biography of Heather Hornback-Bland. At four years of age, she fell out of a moving car and was run over by her own mother. The tire crushed her belly and destroyed her internal organs. Since then she has had 187 operations to repair the damage done on that fateful day, a day her mother wishes she could do over. In a rush, she forgot to check the doors, something she had always done. And seatbelts weren't the rage they are today.
After reading thirteen chapters, I know why God wanted me to read this book. It's not just a book that inspires being thankful, it's a book about faith. Heather is in her thirties now and despite all that she's been through, she gives God credit for being there with her, carrying her through when she couldn't take anymore.
How can so many bad things happen to one person? This is a question her mother asks God. And even Heather reaches a point where she hates God. But even when she turned her back and walked away from him, he never left her. "Through all the grief, pain, and despair, I wasn't walking at all," she said. "He was carrying me."
If a woman who's been through so much can still see the goodness of God, what problems are so great in our lives that we can't overcome? As I'm reading this book I am encouraged by Heather's strength. Her life is a testament to the power of faith. One bad thing after another befalls this woman and she keeps going. She continues to find the joy of God working in her life.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for a God that can be found anywhere I look and expect him to be. He is actively involved and interested in every part of my life. He even shows me what books will inspire me the most when I visit the library. Isn't that amazing! Isn't God amazing?
