How Did I End Up Here?

HOW DID I END UP HERE?

By Nancy Lee Shrader

How did I end up here? This is a question that each human has asked him or herself at least once in their lifetime. Where did I come from? Where did this intricate skeleton with its miles of veins and arteries that is covered with muscle, tissue and skin come from? Why do I have green eyes instead of blue or brown? Why is my hair light with a reddish tent and not dark like my mother and father’s? Why do my facial features resemble my father instead of my mother? Why was I born a woman and not a man? Is there someone greater than me somewhere who made all these things happen? There are so many questions when it comes to discovering our origin. So how did I end up here? Well let’s just think about that and check out all the different theories and there are many theories in the world today, but I’ll just name the ones that are in the forefront of my mind.

Let us start with the Evolutionists; they believe that we evolved from lower creatures, starting with the ameba. Did we slither out of the sea onto dry land and in a million or so years become apes in the jungle? Then in a few more million years we learned to walk upright and the first cave man walked the earth, leading to the human race of today. I’m sure everyone has seen the video clip that depicts that very hypothesis. I know I have seen it many times over the years. Why did it not cloud my vision on the end all conclusion that made me aware of who I am and where I came from? I will answer that a little later on, but first let us check out some of the other theories.

Space involvement is another theory that many people over the world believe that brought about their existence here on Earth. A belief that beings from outer space landed here millions of years ago and started a new colony of creatures who bred with the cave dwellers. Yes the same cavemen who at one time slithered out of the sea and boom bang man appeared on the earth as thinking human beings. Sure I could have been swayed by this theory since I’m a big science fiction fan from way back, but I didn’t. So why didn’t I? Be patient, I have another theory to run by you, but in the interest of science, some people will be swayed by almost anything. I’m sure if someone tried hard enough; they would be able to convince at least one person that an elephant could balance itself by its tail on the head of a daisy. Of course you and I are not that gullible and we tend to use our minds and would not buy into the hype, at least I hope so. Let’s move on to my last theory.

Listen to the talk shows on television and you will discover that there are people who strongly believe that we are all gods, and we only, are responsible for our destiny in life. I agree with these people to a degree. Each person knows right from wrong and has the power to choose in which direction their lives will evolve, but that is where it ends for me. I do not agree that we are gods and human beings brought about their existence in the world or what we do in this life is only judged by the judicial system in our respective countries. So what do I believe in and is there another theory of man’s existence?

Yes, I’m one of those people who know for sure that I didn’t come from that ameba, or the monkey. I was created long before I entered my mother’s womb. Did I somehow see it happen, or have a great mental recall from a time before I existed here on earth? No, but I do have something that tells me who I am and where I came from and how I ended up here. This thing I possess is something that gives me the knowledge to know without any shadow of a doubt how I ended up here in Beckley, West Virginia. But before we get into the reason why I’m so sure, let me tell you what I believe is the only theory that really makes sense as to why human beings walk the streets of today’s Earth. God planted us here. How do I know that God exist? Easy, God wrote that knowledge upon my heart at the moment of my creation. It just took me quite some time to learn to read what was written there. How do I know this when I have never seen God face to face? Well, now I will tell you the reason that I know without a shadow of a doubt that God exists. It’s Faith that allows me to be sure that God planted me here. Yes that’s right, I ended up here because a loving God created me in His image and loved me enough to want my life to be worth something, but He also gave me the option to choose to believe or not to believe.

Now if I were to look around the room, would I see those who are just a little skeptic that someone greater than themselves created all that is in the world today? Maybe not the skeptics who try to convince the human race that it was the big bang that created something so uniquely made as you and me, but a few who are teetering and on the verge of discovery. If so, maybe I can help them lean in the right direction and lead them to discover their true origin. Just take a moment and look at a single blade of grass, a lily, in all its splendor. Or just look at your own hand and notice how each finger moves. A big bang, I think not. You also might think that if there is a god and this all knowing and all seeing God created you and me and everyone and everything here on earth, then why didn’t He do more to make us love Him. God doesn’t force anyone to love Him. Forced love is rape. God gave each person a soul and a choice. Choose to love Him or not. Do you ever hear a small voice whispering within your mind? God is speaking. You may have another question or two, like why does God allow bad things to happen? Well, my personal theory on that subject is that sin has a ripple effect on the world throughout time. Sin is like a cancer it grows and infects the healthy tissue that surrounds it. So each sin that is committed grows and touches the innocent. Take for instance. A man buys a gun and then uses that gun. Sin has grown and the bullet that speeds across the atmosphere rips apart the lives of many people, not only the one who was shot---ripple effect. Then this man goes to trial and is sentenced to die by lethal injection and his family is now suffering from the sin of the one man---ripple effect. That one sin touched many, like a cancer it grew until it was out of control.

Faith, now let us just define the meaning of the word faith. Merriam Webster dictionary gives this as the definition of faith.

Faith 1 a: allegiance to duty or a person: LOYALTY b(1): fidelity to one’s promises (2): sincerity of intentions 2 a (1) belief and trust in the loyalty to God (2) faith is a belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) a firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2)complete trust (3) something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially: a system of religious beliefs, the Protestant faith>

Do I need to see God to know that He exists? No, I have complete trust that God is the begin all and end all of all things---alpha and omega. Have I seen signs to confirm my faith? Yes, but we will get to that later on. Let me tell you a little story that was told to me and other’s at an Easter service. Two Easters ago, I was visiting a church in Clarksburg, West Virginia and the minister at that church gave a sermon that I will never forget. He said that on one particular Sunday, he asked the youth in the congregation to tell him what faith meant to them. A young girl of about twelve who had recently started coming to church rose and walked to the front of the church. The minister was holding his breath, not knowing what this new arrival would say that would be worthwhile, since it was only her second Sunday. Young Mary turned to face the congregation.

"Hello everybody," she said, but her voice faded as she spoke. Her face had turned a light shade of pink and her little gloved hands were shaking at her side. Finally she found her voice again and spoke loudly so that even the little old lady on the front row who was hard of hearing, heard every word. "My name is Mary and I haven’t been coming here too long. I just discovered this morning what faith means. I was just sitting here listening to Pastor’s sermon and it all became clear to me, so when Pastor asked the question, I was sure that I needed to tell everyone what I had just discovered. I wasn’t in Jerusalem when Jesus carried His Cross to the place where He died. I didn’t see the sun grow dark and I didn’t see the empty tomb, but I know it happened just that way. You all want to know how I know that it happened just as the Bible said it did." Young Mary looked around the church and noticed that many of the older members as well as her piers were nodding affirmatively. Then Mary went on to tell everyone what happened. "My heart sang when you read the story of the Lord’s Passion today." She turned and looked at the minister who had a tear trickling down his cheek. She continued. "I know that it happened just that way, because God made my heart sing today." Young Mary slowly walked back to her seat at the back of the church.

Silence filled the church and it remained silent. Finally the minister stood and with a tremor in his voice, he reread the scripture again of the Lord’s Passion and knew that the entire congregation was really listening this time. When he finished, he walked down the aisle and out of the church. All was still quiet inside that little church on that Easter Sunday morning. Everyone remained seated with their heads bowed. The minister didn’t know how long the congregation remained kneeling that Sunday, because he went to the rectory, fell to his knees and thanked God for young Mary and the fact that he had witnessed a miracle and so had his flock.

My faith began at my mother’s knee with all the Bible stories she told over the years and in my Sunday school classes. I would like to say that I had the faith of young Mary at the age of twelve, but my only interest was what I was going to wear to church each Sunday and who was going to see me wearing it. I drifted away from the church when I left home to further my education. However, I returned to the church momentarily in order to be married in a church ceremony. I had to attend counseling sessions before the minister would perform the ceremony. After I was married I attended church rarely, Christmas and Easter was about it. Then tragedy struck our family. Our youngest child was diagnosed with cancer. In my desperation, I rediscovered the faith of my youth. However, my faith watched a miracle on August 20, 1977 at the University Hospital in Morgantown. I awoke to nurses hovering around my little boy’s hospital bed. I stood and saw the reason for all the commotion. David was having a great bit of difficulty breathing through his tracheotomy tube. The nurse patted my arm and said that the doctor was on her way and a hospital worker had gone to inform my husband who was sleeping in our car in the hospital parking lot, because only one parent could stay in the room at a time. While she and I stood watching David gasp for breath, my three year old son reached into the air and took an invisible hand. Then his little hand dropped. He was gone.

I would like to say that my faith never faltered, but I can’t. The image of my baby dying consumed me and the anger took over. Why had God allowed my child to die? Didn’t I pray hard enough? During the next seventeen years, I sporadically attended church, but never on a regular basis. Then in August of 1994, I lay in an ICU dying. In one of my lucid moments I tried to bargain with God for my life. Then as with young Mary, my heart sang and through a still small voice I found my faith again and I remembered David’s little hand. He had taken the Lord’s hand and would be waiting for me in heaven. As you can see I’m still here. God decided that there was more for me to do. All I know is that my heart sang that day, August 16, 1994.

So what was in God’s plan for me? Did God know that nine years later; I would begin an extensive Bible Study of the End Time Prophecies? And have that Bible Study published three years later. Or that I would do a second Bible Study of the Messianic Prophecies and have that one published a year after the first and continue on with a third that gives God’s directions how to live in His Light? Sure God knew, because he made my heart sing with the knowledge He wrote upon my heart at my creation. Listen, is your heart singing?