There are so many books and movies that ask the question: What if? Some go as far as repeating the same day or the same experience over and over, trying a different approach, making a different choice or adjusting an attitude.
My hubby and I are currently watching a series on Netflix called "Travelers". The premise is that a bunch of people in the future volunteer to come back to the 21st century to try and change things for the better. It, of course, opens a whole lot of cans of worms and the results of their so-called "missions" are still impossible to predict. Even with their super AI computer.
Stories like these fascinate me. They boggle my mind and I can't help but think... what if? What if I could go back in time... what would I change? Some of you might have read my book, Die Laaste Dag. The Lord took me on a journey, a fictional story, where the main character believes that her last day on earth has arrived and she anxiously tries to figure out what to do in such a short time. Of course, she has many thoughts about her life. Her choices. Her passions. Her regrets. Her unfulfilled dreams. This story, even though I was the author who physically tapped away on a keyboard, was really written by Holy Spirit. Through this story He lovingly convicted me that I had to change my course... it had been time. Which brings me back to the question: What if?
What if I had gone ahead and studied languages and became a writer when I was still in my twenties, instead of in my forties? Where would I be? Would I have met my amazing husband? Would I have had my amazing daughters? Would I have lived in Cape Town? Would it really have led to me doing what I am doing now? Helping others fulfil their callings? And enjoying every single minute of my job? Would I have appreciated the absolute privilege to do what I have always wanted to do? I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have been this grateful. Maybe I would've struggled as a writer because I wasn't ready and had no life experience.
This morning Walter and I read about Joseph in Genesis 37. Now, there is a young man who probably DID ask this question as he was sitting in the dry pit (and later in jail). What if I kept my mouth shut about those weird dreams? Then my brothers wouldn't have hated me so much and thrown me in here! Things just got worse for the poor youngster... until many years later when the path to the pit led them all to salvation. God's plan, even though it seemed to have gone seriously wrong, was perfect all along.
The key is to trust in God's plan and His love for you. Yes, we all make mistakes, we make the wrong choices, but God can and will take those mistakes and make something beautiful from them if we give them to Him and put our trust in Him.
Thus, I think it is better to not ask the question: What if? Rather ask the question: What next, Lord? Show me the way I must go.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
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