Endings

I get uncanny messages. I can be thinking about a current struggle or transition I’m going through for a few days, and inevitably, it will be discussed on a show, in a book, in a magazine, on the radio, or sometimes it will just pop in my head.

Recently, I have been lamenting a friendship that has ended. This always feels like a divorce to me  – sad and maddening at the same time. Sometimes, relationships end for reasons over which you have no control. Sometimes they end with blatant fighting, but other times it’s less obvious and more lingering. Sometimes, you don’t know a relationship has come to its final end, but you look back and realize it had been coming for years. Maybe you saw things differently, maybe one person didn’t have the time or desire to be friends anymore, or maybe you’ll never know because there’s no communication about the final straw – it’s just understood that it’s over and there’s nothing left to say.

Whatever the reasons, you can’t change people or situations. I still struggle, but I do know this. So, as I do most of the time, I looked for spiritual reasons and advice and I received a message about my grief from a Joyce Meyer lecture.

God removes people from our lives so he can carry out His plan for us. It is actually an act of mercy, because He only wants the best for us. It could be that He wants to force us to lean on Him alone. It could be that He knows that certain people will be a hindrance to our future journey. God places people in our lives for a reason and a season. Maybe they have already served their purpose.

And God removes people and replaces them with new people, but according to His time and plan. He understands and allows a bit of time for us to grieve and adjust. But He expects us to have faith in Him. He knows best and we need to replace the grief with trust in Him.

So, the only message I should need is this understanding that the friendship served a wonderful purpose, its ending is for my good, and that what is to come will be better for me.