I am amazed by the truth He brings to me and the ways in which that truth appears. Sometimes in bible verses, sometimes from a book, or conversation with a stranger. Keep your mind open and you will not miss His messages during your day.
I often wonder where I will be in a few years, there are worries in my personal life that seem insurmountable. Things that are not great, ones that I cannot imagine getting better. I’m not one to worry much, but I do have moments. I’ve known for many years that it’s a waste of time. I have, for many years, completely trusted in the Lord for whatever my come my way, however, I do have moments. So, I was praying, crying with worry, one morning on the porch of a place I was staying at for a few days and an hour or so later, as I was preparing to go shopping, I found a Chinese cookie fortune on the floor in the living room. Mind you, we had been there for three days already, had not eaten a meal there, hadn’t brought in any leftovers or take out and had not had Chinese food. I had walked by this couch at least a dozen times. But suddenly, out of nowhere is this tiny slip of paper… it reads “You need not worry about your future.” What the heck!? He is SO amazing!!
In times of trouble, the Lord wants us to praise Him. We’ve all heard that before… Praise Him in all things. It will make sense if you look at the big picture. While you won’t understand much, or any of it sometimes, praise Him anyway. Think beyond the moment and think about God’s purpose with us. He asks us to follow Him, let Him guide us thru life. We all know he has lessons, plans, events, situations and such in store for us that will strengthen us, mold us, bend us, tweak us, and build our character. He wants us to become the best we can be, for ourselves and for those He has placed in our lives. He wants us to praise Him through the good times and bad times, because every situation, every crushing blow and every joyful tear is designed to get us to where we need to be for Him. We come in and out of each other’s lives for a reason, and the reasons are always part of God’s plan. Recently a friend told me she and her boyfriend broke up. She was devasted and shocked by what was basically his choice of drugs over her. She really wasn’t even upset about him using, as much as she was about him lying about it after he decided to promise her, he would quit. She had never asked him to stop. It was based on a promise he made to her. Anyway, in telling me the story and the aftermath she was dealing with she said she was beginning to question her judgement in choosing men to date. I immediately was overcome with “no!” And went on to explain what the Lord was telling me. This wasn’t about the guy or even her. There (approximately) one-year relationship and subsequent break up was about God and getting her to a place where He wanted her to be. Teaching her a lesson that she needed to learn. This guy had been a tool the Lord used in her life and he has, basically, served his purpose, so the relationship ended. While it is hard to deal with, incredibly disappointing (she really felt she would marry this guy), she needed to understand that this was all a good thing! Crazy, I know. But that is how God works. That is how He teaches us, through good situations and bad ones.
Think about it in terms of raising a child. The ultimate goal is to have a good adult at the end of the 18 years. So, in the process of those 18 years, you, the parent, are teaching the child how to behave, say please and thank you, etc. There are times when the child will behave badly and you must punish the child. While the punishment is hard – sometimes for both parent and child – it is used to teach a lesson. Hopefully the child will understand that bad behavior equals bad consequences and he’ll choose to not behave badly again.
And in sports, one must work very hard, to be a football player, for example. There are bumps and bruises and sweating and running and aching muscles and sore joints, however, the end result of hard work and lessons and such is a better player. So ultimately looking back on those weeks of practice and lessons and all the pain and suffering, one could be, should be thankful for the end result. That is where God wants us… understanding that everything we go through, literally EVERYTHING is part of His teaching us, molding us into better people. Building our character and ultimately helping Him achieve his goals for our life and the lives of those we encounter.