"Some People Call it Fate"

Don't get the wrong idea.   I don't think about it very often.   Just sometimes.   What if?

My grandma (that's her below with the cat eye glasses)....was Lila.   I love that name.  Her first husband, Ben Tillman Hendricks, died from injuries he suffered in a car accident in 1937. Lila was left the widow of three small children.  She later married my grandpa, Wister (the firmly planted man at her side) - and they had one child together - my dad.   I've wondered before, what if the accident that killed Lila's first husband never happened? and my dad had never been born?

An older couple - The Tanner's - were living their lives out together on a small farm in rural Dacusville in the 1960's.    Both Mr. & Mrs. Tanner were tragically killed in a car accident.  Their children put the farm up for auction following their deaths.  My husband (Scott's) parents wanted to leave the big city of Greenville at the time and move back to the country.  They learned of the property being sold and placed a bid at the auction.  They had the winning offer at the auction.  Scott was six or seven years old when his family moved to the farm.   That series of events would put Scott at the same High School as me about ten years down the road.   We met and started dating at that high school.  I wonder sometimes how different my life might have been,  if the Dublin's never bid on this farm in Dacusville?   What if Scott & I had never met?

Pickens High School - Home of the Blue Flames!  

I know......we were SO young!

We did meet, though.   We started dating when we were 16 years old!  We fell in love,  finished Clemson together in 1981....got married in 1982 and started our life.   Young college graduates, we had no money, hand me down cars and a cat, named Booper.    Scott was unhappy at his job as a financial planner and looking for something more "meaningful."   He came home one afternoon after interviewing for a job as the District Executive with the Boy Scouts of America -- a job in Oconee County.  He got the job!  The following day, however, an executive in the Scouting Office decided to change plans - sending Scott, instead, to Greenwood County.  He thought Scott was better suited for the area.    I've wondered,  what would our life and our kid's lives have been like if  Scott's had been sent to Oconee as planned?   What if we had never moved to Greenwood?

Our sweet little home in Greenwood

I've even seen interesting "what if's" with my children.    Kate applied for med school at MUSC - and was "wait listed."    MUSC was her first choice for PT school, but she didn't get an immediate acceptance     She had no other option but to apply to the only other PT program in South Carolina --at  the University of South Carolina.    While in school at USC, she met her future husband, Josh.     I've wondered during all the wedding planning going on for the last six months, what if she had gotten into MUSC when she applied?

Kate & Josh

Do you think about the what if's?

Some people call it fate. I believe everything happens for a reason.   As I've gotten a little further down the road of life, I can see all the ways that God has been "working things out." He is working out His plan for my life in the circumstances, the accidents, the moves and job relocations and the unexpected.  

I love this passage from "Jesus Calling" - my devotional by Sarah Young:

"Let me prepare you for the day that stretches out before you.  I know exactly what this day will contain, whereas you have only vague ideas about it.  You would like to see a map, showing all the twists and turns of your journey.  You'd feel more prepared if you could somehow visualize what is on the road ahead.  However, there is a better way to be prepared for whatever you encounter today:  Spend quality time with Me...My abiding presence is the best road map available..."

Despite all the unanswered questions and the "what if's" of my life, I'm trusting Him with how it all turns out.