During the bleakest times of my life, I believed that God was causing my troubles, punishing me. It was a very dark and lonely period.
As I learned to take responsibility for myself, my decisions, my reactions, my consequences, I grew to believe that God was placing hurdles in my way to provide opportunities for growth. That period of time was better but still extremely difficult.
Now, as I look at the trials that we, as humans face, I no longer view God as the perpetrator. Most of our difficulties are caused by humankind. Financial, relationship struggles are usually self-inflicted. The more extreme issues of rape or murder are caused by other human beings.
There are, of course, the so-called 'acts of God' such as earthquakes or floods. Whether these are caused by human interactions with the planet is under debate but blaming God for these things seems to me to be judgmental of the creator. The laws of nature have provided us with a planet that supports life. Earth responds to stressors to remain in balance and continues her travels around the sun.
What God does seem to do is to provide ways to turn our difficulties into something positive in our lives. We can overcome our self-destructive behaviors and grow as human beings.
We can learn to forgive, to let go, to discover more effective ways of dealing with others whom we deem 'evil'.
When faced with extreme situations such as Hurricane Katrina, we can stop shaking our fist at God and come together to be helpful and grateful for one another.
I no longer believe that God creates the trials in our lives but most certainly provides the means to get through them in a positive way.
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