Despite trials, former reporter says God still working for good

I t’s strange how our plans and God’s unfold in ways we least expect. Seventeen years ago this summer, I made the difficult decision to resign as a reporter for The Times Record. I was three years out of college, married, and a new mom who wanted to work from home.

Having hoped to freelance while raising kids, I left a job and colleagues I loved for the uncertainties of making it on my own. My husband, Dana, encouraged me to go for it. When else would I try?

So, I quit, planning to return to full-time employment when our youngest child started kindergarten. Only our youngest recently learned to walk and our oldest is a senior in high school, with three others in between.

Looks like I’ll be working from home for a while. Yet here I am, writing a new column for the same paper where I’d once worked as a reporter. Delays and unexpected detours are often God’s way of shaping our dreams.

I never imagined freelancing so long, but working from home has allowed me to contribute to a variety of regional magazines and newspapers — including this one. It has also inspired me to write a couple of books, which I hope to soon see published.

Longtime readers may recall a series of articles I wrote nearly a decade ago about the adoption of our daughter Ruth, who had cerebral palsy and was born in Uganda. Adopting was another dream — one this community helped come true by donating to Ruth’s adoption fund.

With that money, Ruth, who’d arrived in Maine for physical therapy at 16 months old, and I traveled back to Uganda to visit her orphanage and get permission from a court to adopt. One month later, we returned to Logan International Airport with the papers making her ours.

After reading about our trip, strangers often stopped me in the grocery store or at the library to ask how Ruth was doing. “Great!” I said. Our family cherished Ruth, driving her to therapies, celebrating her accomplishments and treasuring her deeply.

Yet, this dream also held an unforeseen twist when three years ago Ruth died unexpectedly in her sleep just before turning 8. Not my plan. Our family was devastated. How could God allow this when we loved Ruth so much and had worked so hard to bring her home?

I still don’t know, but I am actively working to support other kids like Ruth by publishing her story. “For now we see through a glass, darkly,” the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, regarding our knowledge of spiritual things. As a Christian, I believe that God is working for my good — and the good of all those who love him — even when his plan differs from mine.

While waiting to see what that is, faith means moving forward anyway. That’s what I hope to do in this column. What is God calling you to do?

MEADOW RUE MERRILL is a Mid-coast Maine writer who shares about God in her everyday world through her blog “Faith Notes” at www.meadowrue.com, where you can comment and follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

The Times Record welcomes Meadow Rue Merrill back to its pages with this new weekly feature. Please share your thoughts about “Faith Notes” with Worship page editor Daryl Madore at dmadore@timesrecord.com.