God’s Plans  

   “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 9) 

   I am currently rereading “The Confessions of Saint Augustine”, his autobiography. It is the story of how he found God in his life, eventually becoming a great saint after an early life of debauchery and heresy.

   As I am reading it this time I’ve seen something that I hadn’t noticed before; the insight Augustine displays in understanding the many ways God brought him to Himself.  He sees the sinful lifestyle he had led, the adultery he knew and even the heresy of Manichaeism he had gotten so involved with as part of God’s plan for him.

   As I look back over my life it’s plain to see God’s hand in my life.  To begin with, I’m not even supposed to be alive.  When I was born the doctors told my parents that I would not live more than a month or so.  On at least two other occasions I have come near to death but survived.  Was it luck or God’s plan for me that saved me?  I choose to believe it was God.

   I grew up in a household essentially devoid of God.  Rarely was He spoken of except in vain and even more rarely did I see the inside of a church.  Yet, I fell in love and married my childhood sweetheart, a woman of faith, who led me to the Catholic Church and God.

   In these and other ways I can’t help but see His hand in my life though I didn’t’ see it at the time.  Things are often much clearer when looking back.

   I have no idea what else God may have planned for the rest of my time here on earth, but I will submit myself to His will in all things.  His will, His plan, is to bring me to His heavenly kingdom and that is where I want to be for all eternity.