Poor Rachel and Jessica, they found out on the third day that Rose and I had never been across a big bridge.  Yes, we are Texas girls to be sure.  So they decided to give us an education.

On day two of our trip we spent the morning playing games

A few days ago I did a post on one of my favorite parts of the chronicles of Narnia series from the horse and his boy (click here to read that post), and today I would like to share some more thoughts about it.

As many of you who have read my blog know, my family has been called on a journey that has lead us away from the more traditional ways of doing church and has called us to start a home church. Right now though, we are in a time of uncertainty, a time of waiting, a time that often feels like being in that Mountain pass with Shasta. The excitement that I first felt when we started this journey has waned, all the thankfulness I felt that I had for the fact my family is on this journey together has been over-shadowed by the fact that we seem to be all alone, we feel like we have done all we can do so all we can do now is wait.

I have been like Shasta; instead on keeping my eyes on the goal, I often wallow in self-pity and start complaining. I start thinking things like: if we are going to live without friends, why do we also have to struggle with money? If we are going to be called to live radically for God, at least that should have been balanced with a nice house. Oh yes, I am good at complaining, and I am sorry to say that I catch myself far too often thinking that God hasn’t been “fair” to me and my family.

After reading this part in The Horse and His boy, I was reminded about how much I really do have. If God and I were to have a similar conversation, I would imagine that it would go something like this:

Sarah: God we live in a mobile home that is so much smaller than most people’s homes.

God: I know. Remember the X family? Your family was the only one in the church that could really minister to them because they were poor and felt out of place and looked down upon by the people with huge houses. I needed you in that mobile home for a reason; that is why I put you there.

Sarah: God we don’t have a lot of money. I am really getting tired of having to watch every penny. You own the cattle on a thousand hills; can’t you give us a little more?

God: I could, but look at the character I am building in you and in your siblings. You have learned to trust me; you have seen and know that I can provide; you can be truly grateful for even the small blessings that I send your way and so much more.

Sarah: God I am so lonely, I just want one or two girls who will make the time to be my friend.

I am not a fantasy fan. I don’t really like strange creatures, and I have a lot of trouble with good guys using magic and having strange powers. However, I do have one confession to make; I like most of the Chronicles of Narnia. You see, I grew up watching the old BBC version The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and my dad read us most of the series out loud to us one year. I have so many good memories of those evenings we spent in C. S. Lewis’s Narnia that I am very fond of most of the books.

One book from the series always stands out to me from when my dad read it to us, and that was The Horse and His Boy. I loved the story of a talking horse and the boy Shasta and their adventures as they make their way toward the land of Narnia. I still can see the mental pictures I painted when my dad first read it to us.

One of the scenes that stood out to me was the one where Shasta is in the mountains. He is cold, hungry and is feeling very sorry for himself. All the excitement from his adventures has worn off, all the thankfulness he felt for reaching the king in time is overshadowed by his loneliness, and he had completed his mission, so there was nothing left that he had to think about.

Aslan comes to him, and Shasta tells him his life story and is bemoaning about all the unfortunate events of his life from when he was a baby till that day. He echoed how I have felt many times when he said everything always works out well for other people but not for me.

Aslan then goes one by one through his list of complaints and tells him “I was behind this all the time; I was working it out for your good.” This reminded me that God does the same thing with my list of complaints. He doesn’t see my life the way I see it. When I see an injustice or something gone wrong, he sees a chance, an opportunity for me to grow. When I am struggling though something and I see it as my worst moment, he sees it as my finest hour.

Well, I never meant this post to get so long, though I feel like I could keep writing, so there will probably be a part two sometime. Have a wonderful day!