Everything Happens for a Reason...?

I kind of hate this statement...even though I believe it most of the time.  It seems to be the thing that people say when something happens to us in our lives.  And everybody says it.  I'm sure in the grand scheme of things everything does happen for a reason, we don't always see or know what that reason is. I just have a really hard time grasping the "everything" part, with certain things that have happened in my world.  So for the purpose of making me happy today....because it's all about me being happy...I'm going to say I believe MOST things happen for a reason...the rest I'll wait until I get to heaven and can have it explained to me by a higher authority.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was processing not having a job anymore and all the things we are going through now and in the last couple of years.  I mentioned I worked for the Postal Service for 6 years...well 6 1/2 years.  I tried desperately to qualify to be a Career employee....which only means I would get all the nice benefits and pay that Career employees get.  I was not a career employee and I got nothing but less pay and I've been paying full cost for insurance out of my paycheck every month for the last 2 years.  In order to work for the Postal Service you have to take an exam...in order to qualify for a Career position you have to get a certain score on that exam.  I took that stupid test 5 times... The last time I took it last June was the most important.  The fact that I took it 3 times that counted for absolutely nothing made me mad.  When I took the test last June...it was to keep my job...everybody had to retake the test.  But the most important part of it was the center I worked at opened up career positions that had not been available for a few years.  Phew...sorry I hate back stories.  To make a long story short I took the test and got the...lowest...score I had ever gotten before.  Same test I'd taken 4 times before that.  What the Heck!!??!! The opportunity I had desperately "needed"...wanted...completely went down the crapper. Now if they would have considered any of my previous test scores I would have gotten it no problem.  I was so angry.....people were getting the position I worked so hard for...I deserved...who had worked there less time than I had....who had never worked there at all.  Fast forward to yesterday...ok I admit I'm a little slow these days...with stress and sleep deprivation and all. This is absolutely one of those times I can say "most" things happen for a reason....I would have lost that career position had I gotten it because I wouldn't have made it through probation...I would have lost my job back in October when my husband got sick..automatically. When I look back it all adds up...it all falls into place...and it all happened...for a reason. I was able to keep my job for the last few months along with my insurance.  So when it all comes down to it I have to be ok with how it turned out. Obviously God knew I was about to go on quite the roller coaster ride over the next few months. That's just one example... I can actually look back on a lot of things that have happened in my life and see exactly why they happened.  I definitely couldn't see it at the time...but months or years later I look back and say Holy cow I get it...I really get it. It's kind of a cool thing when you notice it.

There are still those things that happen...that I just shake my head and I question.  Why? But I can't see the full path from beginning to end... and the really hard things, I won't get those answers until I'm ready for them.  We choose a path to go down in life and we deal with the good and the bad that come our way.  If you knew the outcome...would you go back and change the path you chose?  The truth of it is...you can't avoid life, it happens no matter what path you choose.  The good, the bad....the incredibly awful. It's all part of life and life is about learning and growing and becoming the best that we can become.  It's not always fair maybe there isn't always a reason.  Maybe sometimes things happen, just because they happen and maybe they don't.  But this is just me... I like to figure stuff like this out.. I like to find the meanings in things. I like to work through why things happen. Forget politics...this is the stuff I can talk about for hours. Anyway take a look back at your lives....look at the times that you just didn't understand why they were happening. Can you look back now and see the events that followed that lead to any answers?  Maybe you can...maybe you can't.   But like I said it's a pretty cool thing when you see it...  Everything happens for a reason?  Well I guess I just have to wait and see...