The Journey Home by Vickie Stam

Genesis 18:14 "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?"

Life is full of surprises! For my parents, I was a surprise baby. But not a life that God did not intend.

Every once in a while I find myself travelling back in time to revisit my past and in doing so I am pulling some of those unexpected events from my memory bank. I didn't always appreciate the gift of memories the way I do now. The times I consider to be "the hard times" are not always something I enjoy reminiscing about. But these days those still frames in my mind allow me to view the days gone by as part of God's plan for me. The knowledge that my Heavenly Father knows all of my trials and triumphs long before they've transpired is sometimes difficult for me to fathom.

But, God never promised my life would be filled with only joy and no pain. In fact, it was in those trials that I found myself reaching out to him, longing for his help. God was patiently waiting to draw me closer to him. Waiting for me to trust him to unfold the rest of his perfect plan for me.

It's been quite a journey. Through it all, I've had the privilege to share my ups and downs with my family and friends.... people that only he could have brought into my life.

I'm reminded, "It's not how far we go in life....it's how we get there." I'm certain God isn't finished with me yet and I know that he will walk with me the rest of the way home.

John 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

How wonderful to know that one day I am going to share a place with my heavenly Father. I've often wondered what heaven will be like but in the meantime it is my desire to carry out God's plan for me here on earth.

I'm a Christian, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend.

Being a Christian you are given the gift of grace, forgiveness and hope. Jesus died so that all might live. Being a wife is the gift God gave to Adam; a helpmate so he would no longer be alone in the garden of Eden. Being a mother is the gift he gave to many women in the bible, even Sarah who in her old age thought she would never conceive and bring forth a child, yet she did. Being a grandmother is the gift that is described in Proverbs as, "a crown of the aged." Being a friend is the gift he gives you when he surrounds you with a family, brings people into your life from within your neighbourhood, your church and around the world.

I have so much to be thankful for! I hope what I leave behind are memories... memories of the person that God intended me to be.