In passing her desk this morning, I spotted a verse at the top of Frank's quiet time journal. She had it written like this: May I Be...Perfect(ed), establish(ed), strengthen(ed) and settle(ed)
Then there was the chocolate cake dialogue between four-year-old Olivia and her mom posted on FB this morning about how God decides to bless our picnics with sunshine and to give us chocolate cake. At the end of our discussion with us about this, April said, "my philosophy is that we must have a firm belief in Gods sovereignty and His complete goodness. I believe He ALWAYS has our best interest in mind. Someone who is long over due for their chocolate cake will be the best off believing that. I think that God is sometimes allowing us to suffer when he would rather not, because he knows we can take it, and because our suffering is working a good work in someone else. He wants everybody! I believe this, but it doesn't mean my heart doesn't ache for someone who really needs chocolate cake."
My question about how to get in line for our piece of chocolate cake came from reading an email from a niece whose baby has cancer in her eye and their choices of treatment include removing the eye. It could seem to someone who didn't know better, that God must not be keeping track of these people. They really, really need His attention.
And from... Elv's agonizing over his dead diesel pickup. He is needing some cake just now, in my estimation. He is perplexed and frustrated and strenuously working in his head on a solution. He is also making some resolutions about how to best use that pickup once it is up and running. I am praying that he is going to see in the end that it really is a rather large serving of chocolate cake even though just now it feels like rain on his picnic.
It all adds up to taking four words as my personal inspiration for the year: perfected, established, strengthened, and settled. Letting life's experiences and the circumstances beyond my control be part of God's effort at doing just that.Nothing happens outside of His knowledge and good judgment.I can rest and trust because, as Olivia declared, "God's gonna listen to God."
I want my chocolate cake NOW!!! said like a pms woman. Laughing!
ReplyDeleteSo when the kiddos are feverish and not sleeping at night, and I'm awake with them and feverish myself, I often catch myself explaining to God just how
ReplyDeletebadly we all need sleep, and asking him to take our problem away. I have come to realize over the last while that it would be a lot better of me to ask God:
1 For the strength and wisdom to get through the situation, and
2 To help me learn the lessons he wants to teach so I can grow to be what he wants me to be.
It just seems a lot easier if God would take our troubles away vs. helping us through them, but think of the spoiled brats we'd all become if that was really how life worked! God isn't just "Santa Claus" waiting to give us whatever we want, but sometimes it's easy to fall into the trap of expecting and asking for that.
~GB