Paths

I think my Pastor wrote today's sermon with me in mind. In fact, she continued to glance my way, winked at me at one point, as she talked about family, about being generous and loving. She has counseled me for almost a year now as I struggled with my choices and actions. Although I still have not come to terms with much of what has occurred in the last year or so, I do know that I am not ashamed of anything.

As I ran my six miles this morning, I thought about all that has happened to me in my life. I contemplated every decision I have made that has led me here, to this point and time, and asked God if He always intended that I should have ended up here. If we, as believers, are destined to follow a path preordained by God, then are we ever really choosing our path? Does each decision we make then somehow work into a larger picture created long before we were born?

Do the people we encounter in our lives fill the gaps left by others?