From the time I was a child, the vision I held for my life was linear. I would go from "point A," to Point "B," etc. until the day I would leave Planet Earth. The roots of the vision were planted by our current culture, my parents, and an inner desire to be or do something. In my linear mindset, I would "A, Grow up, B, complete my high school education, C, get married, D, have children and E, live happily ever after."

The plan was going along "as expected." I was graduated from a technical high-school where I studied culinary arts. "Check." After graduation, I promptly took a job where I met my first husband. "Check." We married. "Check." and had children. "Check." Life was going according to plan. It's not that there was no room for new directions or plans, like hobbies, jobs or such, and other interests. But the overall vision remained point, to point, to point.

There were curves on the path, like moving from difficulty conceiving to having three children in fifteen months. But these are not twists and turns. Twists and turns, like those on a roller coaster are the ones that completely shift the plan; life altering things like infidelity, loss of a loved one, great financial challenge, and such. Some of the twists and turns are positive; an unexpected encounter that leads to a lifetime relationship, winning the lottery...which can be for better or worse...or being headhunted for a great new job.

Life's twists and turns always hit us by surprise. We feel as if we are spinning out of control, which for all rights and purposes is true. How then can we come through these things intact mentally, emotionally, spiritually and yes...even physically? Well, to return to the metaphor of the roller-coaster, as we board the ride we are first buckled in, and then if the ride is particularly tortuous, a harness comes down to securely hold us in place for the course of the ride.

In life, we are literally on the "ride of a lifetime; a ride where we will find thrills as well as terror, and it is important to trust. For me, the safety belt and harness are the spiritual principles that guide my everyday life. It is only logical that what works for smaller things will work for large things. I have found that the Principles work when we work them.

I use various "safety belts" for the "ride," depending on the nature of the circumstance I am experiencing. The safety belts are affirmations, affirming...making firm...statements of Truth such as, "Nothing can disturb the peace of my soul." "Divine Order is NOW manifest," or "There is only One presence and One power in the Universe and in my life, God...the good, Omnipotent, and I am one with the One."

Does this always work? It works when I work it. Carrie Underwood may have sung, "Jesus take the wheel," but as many times as I give Jesus the wheel, I'm grabbing it back within minutes. Yet each time I give it back, affirming God's will for me is good, and only good, I start to enjoy the ride.

In the movie "Parenthood," Grandma says to her son Gil, speaking of the roller coaster, "You know, it was just so interesting that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster, you get more out of it.

All in all, I guess I'd say that I like the roller coaster too.