Got it rough???

We've been reading the Auto Biography of Squanto for school lately. I told you before, I can't seem to finish any book that I read aloud to the kids without totally crying. I don't know what is my deal but it's kinda ridiculous.

Here is this man who goes thru some pretty crazy, harrowing times, separated from his family for a LONG time, betrayed, sold and beaten. Yet through it all he blooms where he is planted. He sees the good in every situation. He makes the best of what he's given. He FINALLY finds a ship that is willing to return him to his people after MANY MANY years a part from them only to find out upon his return that his entire Pataxut Tribe has been wiped out from a devastating illness two years prior.

At this point I am crying and reading thru my tears aloud to the boys. He has lost everything.

The neighboring Indian village asks him to come be with them and he accepts their offer. He quickly realizes that he is no longer used to Indian ways. He has lived with the white men for so long that nothing about the Indian way is comfortable and enjoyable to him. He goes thru some time of despair but God was preparing him all along for something.

The Pilgrims landed near the spot where his village used to be. Here are these other VERY BRAVE people that leave their country for religious freedoms, coming to America without knowledge of how they are going to eat, how they are going to live, how they are going to survive. Squanto comes to eventually live with these people and teach them how to survive and live off the land. He feels complete and like his life meaning is fulfilled.

God had been preparing him his whole life, without him even knowing it, thru all the trials and tribulations he endured so that when these Pilgrims arrived Squanto would be able to speak their language, willingly wanting to come live with them and help them to survive and flourish.

How great is our God?!

But it's stories like these that really touch a place in my heart. Really slaps me upside the head with the reality of what I may consider "hard times"! We have it soooo good. Yet, our faith and strength is nothing compared to so many people that have gone before us. These stories are such good reminders to me and help set me straight!