Do you believe in fate/destiny?
I don’t believe in fate, at least not as some impersonal force that fixes every outcome in advance. But as a Christian, I do believe in the presence and guidance of God.
Fate suggests that everything is locked in and life simply unfolds as it must. Faith says something quite different: that God is active, attentive, and able to work through human freedom, failure, delay, and surprise. I believe God is just and forgiving, holding people accountable while never abandoning them, always making room for repentance, grief, responsibility, and new beginnings.
That keeps me from both naïveté and fatalism. I know the world is marked by greed, injustice, and sorrow. I have sat with people in grief and wished things were otherwise. But I also believe that suffering and death do not have the final word.
My hope is not grounded in wishful thinking, but in the love and power of God. So I do not think of life as predetermined or abandoned. I think of it as lived in the presence of God, guided by grace, and always open to redemption.
The Afterword 
Leave a comment