Intertwined?

Have you ever really looked at a rope that is frayed? Or tried to tie or sew something up with one strand of thread? The strands don't usually withstand the strain of what you are using the rope or thread for. That's why we double over our thread when we sew either by hand or machine, the threads do not stand alone, there are two (and when I sew usually 4 or 5). When we tie something to secure it we find the best rope we can, one that isn't dry rotted or frayed, we want the entire rope to be together in order to hold whatever it is we want to hold.

Our lives are the same way, we, alone, are one strand of thread or one lonely strand of rope barely holding on to whatever it is our life is part of at that time. I'm very much that way, a loner, always have been from a very young age even through my adult life. I would struggle and fight through anything in order not to ask or look for help. I don't know why and I can't speculate I just know that is me, and I have been fighting that me for about 3 yrs now to change. There is many reasons why things happen or don't happen, and I don't guess as to why that is or for what purpose there is to those things. But 18 years ago I met and married Lee and when I met him and we were married, I wasn't thinking about the future or what would or would not happen in our intertwined lives, I was thinking only of myself and the moment of love that I had for him at that time. But God knew something more than me, He knew that I was truly a weak and unsteady person deep down and that Lee was the strength that I needed. Last week, my best friend's daughter ran away and got married, not for any good reason and not for any bad reason she just did. And I have tried to reach out to her and let her know that there are reasons for their marriage that are both good and bad. And I asked her to pray, something that I didn't do when I was first married or for the first 15 yrs of my marriage, for a strong husband who was able to carry a burden when she would not be able to bear it alone. She never responded.
In Ecclesiastes 4 God talks about oppresion, toil, friendlessness and how those thing affect our lives. In 4:12 He says "though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." I believe that God is preparing a hard-hearted, strong minded person to be weakened and alone. Although the verse ends with "three strands" that is not where the cord ends. In my life, I have right now strands of cords that are intertwined in my life from all over the world. They are prayer warriers, friends, family, children, and adults lifting Lee and I up and up and up without our direct knowledge. These strands of cords are what hold us in this time of toil and oppresion without our strands of cords surrounding us we would be that single strand of thread or the frayed rope trying to do something on our own that we could not accomplish and we would break.
I have no reasoning for what my family and our friends are going through, I have no words that can explain it to you but there was a reason for us to be corded together some years ago. It was for this time, this moment, these days both behind and ahead. Alone we are weak and will break, but corded together nothing can overcome us. What strands of cords are in your life that you don't see right now? What strands of cords in your life do you need? Believe it or not, you will need those strands and they start with God. He will, in whatever way He does it, pull strands to your life. Its up to you to interwine them together.