Whatever God Wants

+J.M.J.+

You know that lovely feeling when someone genuinely says, “Whatever you want!”?

Perhaps your spouse truly doesn’t care where you go on your date, what meal you write down on the menu plan, or which destination is next on a trip. There is something so wonderful when you know the person with you truly trusts your decision and has a great attitude about what is next, even if it is out of their control or not their first choice.

St. Gianna Molla had a beautiful quote that I keep seeing pop up on social media.

“Whatever God wants.”

How sublime is that?

Let those words sink in a moment.

What a wonderful thought, to just say, “Whatever You want, Lord.” and to do so cheerfully.

Don’t think that it was easy for St. Gianna to say this; that somehow she had a rosy life that didn’t involve great crosses, because nothing could be further from the truth.

Dr. Gianna Molla was an Italian pediatrician. She didn’t meet her husband until she was in her 30’s, likely suffering from loneliness waiting for her future spouse. And then when she was expecting her fourth child, she became sick with a tumor on her uterus. The only way to remove it and for sure save her own life would involve aborting her baby, and she courageously refused. She died when her little girl was just a week old.

I had the great honor of meeting St. Gianna’s daughter whom she would not abort. She is a pediatrician just like her mother, and this incredibly holy woman is touched every day by the love of her saintly mom who submitted to what God wanted in her life.

Dr. Molla holds no bitterness that she never knew her mother. She has no anger towards God. She instead is eternally grateful that she was given the chance to live. God’s will was not what you would want, being without a mother, yet she has submitted herself as freely as her mom did, and she lives with such joy.

What if we could all just have that same attitude? Of just resigning ourselves to God’s will, accepting the joys and the pains, suffering and wondering, of high peaks and painfully low valleys?

We had plans for a cross country move this summer that are being put off for at least a couple more years. We have been looking for a new house locally now and it’s been a nightmare. I’ve been frustrated, bent out of shape, whiney, and all around digging my heels in. I wanted my plans to happen. I wanted what I thought best. And it’s not working out that way.

I’ve been afraid of big decisions and what our future holds.

St. Gianna’s words remind me of that wonderful feeling of someone just trusting and being content with what you’re deciding.

So I’m trying to change my attitude and think of how it would make God happy for me to just trust Him with all of this big stuff happening… To be content without all these strings attached to His actions. To rest secure knowing that His decisions are fine, and that the path He chooses will be the best one for me, no matter what He wants.