By MARY JANE HOLT
Contributing Writer

Too bad we can't remember that all things are working together for our good and His glory in the midst of it all. It all? Your all. My all.

A friend who died a couple of years ago with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) said something to me once that I will never forget.

As I recall, I was complaining about feeling bad one day and suddenly felt very guilty about my griping in light of Milt's plight. Know what he said to me? He told me not to feel guilty and reminded me that we all must have our various trials.

Oh, how I wish I had recorded all he said that day. He was a man of few words and when he spoke you listened. And, at that time, he also was a man who knew his time on earth was short. A fellow who had already figured out there was no miracle to be uncovered through all trial medication he had tried. To my knowledge there still is no miracle drug for ALS.

Anyway, Milt goes into this explanation about how we are never faced with more than we can bear. How all things work together for good. How my pain and his pain are one and the same. All of it is working to make us stronger, to grow us up, to help us become all we are becoming.

Less than a year after that conversation Milt was dead. I wonder if he ever knew what a shining light he was to me. What his sense of humor meant. How his occasional philosophical conversations affected me. How much his faith shined.

I can't remember if I ever told him. I know I tried a few times. But he played everything down. It was all no big deal.

I always wondered, if the choice had been his, if Milt would have thrown the cards he was dealt back into the pile and asked for more... Somehow, I don't think he would have. He had real faith, the kind that truly believed all things work together for our good, and God's glory. No matter what.

I woke up this morning aching all over. My hands are swelled. They've been doing that a lot again lately. And I was frustrated. Running my fingers up and down this keyboard actually is helping the hands, but reminding me the problem is in my neck. Has been ever since two back-to-back auto accidents in 1971. Some things follow us throughout life.

See what I mean? I gripe. I complain. But I'm all right. Milt said I was, and I live with the assurance that God loves me just as I am. There's something quite phenomenal about the honesty that surfaces when a man is preparing to meet his maker. I think my conversations with Milt helped me to finally realize that God truly loves me just as I am, as I have been, and as I will be.

There's more peace in that realization than one could even begin to shake a stick at. With all my aches and pains this morning, with a never ending flow of frustrations, with constant reminders of all life's imperfections, I am, nevertheless, aware that God loves me as I am.

Think about it. Whatever you are doing this morning, wherever you are spiritually, however you may feel about the grand scheme of things, have you ever realized God loves you? Just as you are.

Oh, you think he probably will one day... But, not right now. You still have too much to do before you can be lovable. Too much to accomplish before He can be proud of you. Too many things to make right before you can be worthy.

Wrong. He loves you just as you are. Today. He understands where you've come from. What you've been through. How much life has hurt you, and how much you have hurt others. Through it all He has loved you.

Don't believe me? Ask him. Then trust Him with who you are today, who you have been, who you are becoming... Then enjoy. Enjoy the peace you will know once you trust Him. I can't give it to you anymore than Milt could give it to me. But it's yours to accept. To claim. To enjoy on the journey. And remember, the journey and the destination become one sooner or later.