God Has His Reasons © Written By John Randolph Copyright 2012. L&A Music/ASCAP/BMI All rights reserved V1 She never saw it coming, when she got the call that night It was just another time, her and mom had a fight Now her apartment seems so cold, as she listens to the rain Wishing mom was here to hold her, and ease all her pain C There are times when you question and break down and cry When you want to hide from the world outside, don’t understand why Just hold on to God’s hand, He’ll guide your through the seasons And one day, you will understand that God has His reasons V2 On the day that he was born, they knew from the start There little boy was special, because of His heart They knew that it would come, that final day But it didn’t make it any easier when God called him away REPEAT CHORUS BRIDGE He never promised your path would be straight But He promised He’d be there with every step you take So when you reach out and take hold, of His loving hand He will carry you through it, until you can stand REPEAT CHORUS TAG Just hold on to God’s hand, He’ll guide your through the seasons And one day, you will understand that God has His reasons
JR Ministries • P.O. Box 174 • Grand Saline, Texas 75140 972-955-8842 • www.jrministries.com •
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Story Behind the Song God Has His Reasons © Written By John Randolph – 2012
We’ve all heard the verse about how God is on our side and He has plans to do great things for us: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 But do we really believe it ALL THE TIME? One night while sitting around the dining room table talking with Cindy, we were discussing a topic that comes up several times a year in our house – the early death of Cindy’s mom. Cindy’s mom passed away from cancer when Cindy was in her 20’s. While this was a tough blow to her, what was even tougher was that she didn’t always have the greatest relationship with her mom – then again, I’m not sure that any kid has a “great” relationship with their parents. After all, God didn’t call us to be their buddies; He called us to be their parents but that’s another lesson. As the mom of two daughters, Cindy at times has questioned what God’s grand plan was in taking her mom from her before she could be there for her wedding, the birth of our two daughters, spending time sharing life as two adults – when things do turn to a better relationship, etc. She also has the regret of arguing and fighting with her mom at times over trivial things that really didn’t matter. There are still many times when she just wants her “mommy” to be here to apologize to her, to hold and just talk to her. On this particular night, the only words of comfort that came were something to the effect of “honey, we don’t know what God’s plan is - and sometimes we will never know until we reach heaven. We just have to trust that God has His reasons.” A few weeks later as I sat in my study and thought about that phrase, my mind rushed back to 1998 when my best friend - Travis Wilson and his wife at the time Amy - buried their 3 ½ year old son Landon Travis Wilson. Landon was born with several health issues but the biggest was a heart defect. Landon in his short life on earth lived life with so much “life” and never stopped until the day he passed away. Travis and Amy knew that the odds were very high that the day would come that their little angel would be called home, but it still didn’t stop the pain and hurt that engulfed their life the days, weeks and months that followed. Travis and I had several discussions before and after Landon’s passing about why something like this would happen. Again, the only answer I ever had was God has His reasons. As I sat and wrote the words to this song, I turned to Jeremiah and while searching for verse 11, I read the first 10 verses of Jeremiah 29. What was so profound to me as I read was that while God has a plan for us – just as He did for His people in Jeremiah’s time – there’s sometimes a process and a period of waiting that we all have to go through.
JR Ministries • P.O. Box 174 • Grand Saline, Texas 75140 972-955-8842 • www.jrministries.com •
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Here’s what He instructed Jeremiah to tell His people who had been taken into exile: V5 – Build houses and settle down; plant gardens (translation – get comfortable) V6 – Marry, have children; marry off your children so that they can have kids (translation – although you don’t see my reasoning, we’re gonna need lots of people to make my plan work so increase your numbers through marriage and childbirth) V7 – Pray for the peace and prosperity of the place you have been exiled because if it prospers, then you will prosper (translation – get over yourself and stop feeling sorry for yourself because you need to bloom where you are planted and, oh yeah, read Matthew 6:12) V10 - “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” (translation – you’re going to be here a while AND THEN the rest of the plan will play out. ) Yes, God had a plan for His people; God had a plan to prosper them; God has a plan to prosper us. But sometimes there is waiting involved; sometimes there is hurting involved and sometimes we just don’t understand where He’s coming from! Just like Cindy and Travis, I have had many moments of weakness. Moments when I just felt empty and that there was no way that I could give anything more; there was absolutely not a single way out in my view. It’s in these times that I really question what His grand plan is all about. In 2008 Angie Smith, the wife of Selah’s lead singer Todd Smith, began a blog titled “Bring The Rain” to journal the road that they would travel after receiving a chilling diagnosis that their unborn child was “incompatible with life.” Aubrey Caroline Smith lived for 2 ½ hours before her death. In 2010 Angie followed up her blog with a book titled “I Will Carry You.” In that book she wrote, “(God) isn’t threatened by my heartbreak and questioning any more than He is threatened by a rainstorm. He knows that the rain will fall. He knows that I will fall.” What I’ll add is that He is always there to pick us up… “He never promised your path would be straight But He promised He’d be there with every step you take So when you reach out and take hold, of His loving hand He will carry you through it, until you can stand” As I have said to my wife many times, we’ll never know all the reasons why God has us go through these trials, but we can trust that God does have a plan for us – and it’s a plan for our good. The big picture though includes waiting; it includes difficult circumstances; it includes situations that we just don’t understand. But in the end, God’s plan includes the need for us to have faith; to place our trust in Him; to hold to His firm foundation; to continue to press forward toward the prize because – God Has His Reasons!
JR Ministries • P.O. Box 174 • Grand Saline, Texas 75140 972-955-8842 • www.jrministries.com •
[email protected]
JR Ministries • P.O. Box 174 • Grand Saline, Texas 75140 972-955-8842 • www.jrministries.com •
[email protected]
