Do you know what? I have found out a secret to why we don't always hear from God. Want to know what it is? Obedience! Yep that's it. So you have to hear my story because it's pretty cool how the Lord works.
This morning I got a phone call from the Dialysis unit. They said my dad never showed up for his appointment this morning. They said that his transportation had knocked on his door and there was no answer. They asked if I was the emergency contact and I said yes. Next they said we will give you one hour to check on him and get back to us or we are going to call the authorities to check on him.
5:40am: Called some people who live closer but realized I was the only one with a key. Got my shoes on and called for prayer. God answered said prayer and I make phone contact with my sleepy father. Ask dad if he would like a ride to his dialysis appointment. Love you dad have a nice day.
Back to reality: I start heading home and realize how blessed I am. Thankfulness is spilling all over the front seat of my car as I drive. I was so happy to see the beautiful sky and know that this is the day that the Lord has made. Praise be to God.
So I get home and about 10 minutes later I hear the pitter patter of little feet running for the stairs. I walked to the stairs to meet my messy haired, sleepy eyed little Josiah. I scoop him up in my arms and he asks me, "Mom can I have a fudge sickle?" "What? You can't have a fudge sickle for breakfast silly." "Please mommy Please I went to sleep and I woke up now, can I please have a fudge sickle?" He was so persuasive with his beautiful big eyes and that cute little 3 year old voice that I cracked. I know I know a fudge sickle for breakfast is ridiculous! But I was so thankful for my day already I thought what could be the harm if he had a fudge sickle just this once for breakfast. I will give him a bowl of marshmallow mateys also to add to that major sugar high and start this day off with a bang.
Well Josiah got his way. And wouldn't you know it my ever so persistent 3 year old didn't eat his breakfast. "Really? Your not going to eat this ever so healthy breakfast that you asked for?" "Are you serious right now, this is a once in a life time chance for you my friend. I'm not sure if you are aware of this but I don't think another opportunity like this is going to come along for...well, ever." Would you believe that I actually started arguing with him to eat his breakfast? When I realized how silly it was to argue with a 3 year old, (have you ever argued with a 3 year old?) Well that was the end of that.
So the moral of this story is; If you beg and plead to have your way, and then finally get it, you probably still wont appreciate it. Do you think this is how God sees things. Do you think He is mean because He wont let you have the life you desire? Take a good look at your life and ask yourself these questions. Am I grateful for the things the Lord has given me? Do I still want to have my way? Would I really be better off if I was God of my own life and could do things the way I wanted to? Am I really going to argue with the creator of the universe?
My advice to you is to be thankful for whatever the Lord has for you. Be thankful that you get to wake up every morning to see his beautiful creation. Be obedient to God and do the things He wants you to do. Because God is eternal. He will keep on waiting for you to get it, even if that means to the end of your life here on this planet. God has been waiting a long long time. He can out wait you.
Thank You Lord for my life. Thank You for being with my dad and for keeping him safe. Thank You for my children and for teaching me through them. I love how You work. God be with me today and help me to be obedient to Your plans for my life. In Jesus name Amen.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Angry About Pain
Well I absolutely love how the Lord uses my children to teach me of His Truths so I decided to blog about it.
A few months back I was sitting on my bed folding socks and praying. Pray with out ceasing right? Well I was talking to God about what it was that makes people choose to live a life of sin. I kept thinking about someone I love very much and how it was that they ended up where they are and, though we come from similar backgrounds, how did I avoid the same fate. I am not kidding you God had been working on answering my question starting the night before. He knows all things and knew I would be asking Him that very question and to demonstrate His omnipresence began answering my question before I asked it.
Well I better go back to the night before. My husband and I were leaving our home fellowship group and decided to make a quick stop at the store to pick up a few things. It was about 8pm on a Sunday night as we stood in line to buy our items. The kids were, of course, grabbing bubble gum and candy bars from the checkout stand asking, "please can I have this." I didn't feel like dealing with the whinny responses after I told them no, so I asked the kids to go over to the bench that was directly across from us and wait till we were done. They all abandoned their candies and ran to the bench to see who would get there first. I have two boys and a girl. Keegan is the oldest and is 8 years old and Josiah is the youngest at 3 years old. Holly, my 5 year old, has a hard time keeping up with her brothers so she was determined to win this race. I don't know how but she missed the bench and ran straight into the corner of the wall. Instantly she picked herself up and slowly walked back over to me at the checkout stand. She was covering her head with her hands and I figured that she would be fine. "Just a little bump," I thought, until the women behind us said, "Oh my, she's bleeding!"
We found ourselves at the emergency room that night, doctor's offices are never open when you need them. After a long, long, long wait, the doctor said Holly would be fine and didn't even need any stitches. We headed home and put the boys in bed and let Holly sleep with us. She had a killer headache and a wicked bump so of course we gave her some extra attention. Isn't it just like God when we are hurting to pour out some extra love and care for us?
We decided to keep Holly home from school the next day since we got in so late. She was playing in her room with Josiah as I sorted socks and asked God my question. I could hear them talking and Holly was being just plane old mean and bossy. "Holly, get in here!" I called and heard no movement and no response. I called again and this time Josiah said, "Holly mommy wants you." Obviously she heard me if her brother heard and obviously she knew she was in trouble or else she would have come when I called. After I persuaded her that not coming would be far worse she slowly walked into my room.
"Please tell me what you are thinking in that room of yours that is making you talk so rudely to your little brother."
"I don't know," she replied with her arms folded in front of her.
"Well listen little lady," I said firmly, "Just because you're hurt and getting extra attention doesn't give you the right to be mean and angry towards your little brother. He loves you and he was so concerned about you last night and even prayed for you, and this is how you treat him?"
As I heard those words come out of my mouth I heard God's answer to my question.
He said, "You see Alyscia, sin is apart of this life. When you get hurt in this world, and everyone does, you have a choice to make. To sin or not to sin. You can either accept that; as horrible as some pains are, pains happen, pain is just part of the fall of man, or you can get angry and bitter at those who haven't been hurt the way you've been hurt." I was floored that, for one, God answered my question so quickly, but that He had been working on the answer to my question before I asked it. Isn't He amazing!
Talk about a lesson learned. James 1:20 says, For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (ESV). It's easier to be angry, at least for me, than to be vulnerable and weak. We want to be strong and independent but God wants us to depend on Him. He wants us to come to Him for our healing. He is more than willing if we humble ourselves and ask. I pray that bitterness and anger will fall away from your heart. I pray that you were moved by this little life lesson via my children the same way I was.
Father please help us to see when we are filling up our heart with bitterness instead of relying on You for our healing and our strength. God pain hurts but You are willing and able to heal all hurts. Thank You for the pain that You endured as You watched Your Son be crucified so that we might be reconciled to You through faith in Jesus Christ. God You are good, please use this blog for Your purpose and for Your glory in Jesus name amen.
A few months back I was sitting on my bed folding socks and praying. Pray with out ceasing right? Well I was talking to God about what it was that makes people choose to live a life of sin. I kept thinking about someone I love very much and how it was that they ended up where they are and, though we come from similar backgrounds, how did I avoid the same fate. I am not kidding you God had been working on answering my question starting the night before. He knows all things and knew I would be asking Him that very question and to demonstrate His omnipresence began answering my question before I asked it.
Well I better go back to the night before. My husband and I were leaving our home fellowship group and decided to make a quick stop at the store to pick up a few things. It was about 8pm on a Sunday night as we stood in line to buy our items. The kids were, of course, grabbing bubble gum and candy bars from the checkout stand asking, "please can I have this." I didn't feel like dealing with the whinny responses after I told them no, so I asked the kids to go over to the bench that was directly across from us and wait till we were done. They all abandoned their candies and ran to the bench to see who would get there first. I have two boys and a girl. Keegan is the oldest and is 8 years old and Josiah is the youngest at 3 years old. Holly, my 5 year old, has a hard time keeping up with her brothers so she was determined to win this race. I don't know how but she missed the bench and ran straight into the corner of the wall. Instantly she picked herself up and slowly walked back over to me at the checkout stand. She was covering her head with her hands and I figured that she would be fine. "Just a little bump," I thought, until the women behind us said, "Oh my, she's bleeding!"
We found ourselves at the emergency room that night, doctor's offices are never open when you need them. After a long, long, long wait, the doctor said Holly would be fine and didn't even need any stitches. We headed home and put the boys in bed and let Holly sleep with us. She had a killer headache and a wicked bump so of course we gave her some extra attention. Isn't it just like God when we are hurting to pour out some extra love and care for us?
We decided to keep Holly home from school the next day since we got in so late. She was playing in her room with Josiah as I sorted socks and asked God my question. I could hear them talking and Holly was being just plane old mean and bossy. "Holly, get in here!" I called and heard no movement and no response. I called again and this time Josiah said, "Holly mommy wants you." Obviously she heard me if her brother heard and obviously she knew she was in trouble or else she would have come when I called. After I persuaded her that not coming would be far worse she slowly walked into my room.
"Please tell me what you are thinking in that room of yours that is making you talk so rudely to your little brother."
"I don't know," she replied with her arms folded in front of her.
"Well listen little lady," I said firmly, "Just because you're hurt and getting extra attention doesn't give you the right to be mean and angry towards your little brother. He loves you and he was so concerned about you last night and even prayed for you, and this is how you treat him?"
As I heard those words come out of my mouth I heard God's answer to my question.
He said, "You see Alyscia, sin is apart of this life. When you get hurt in this world, and everyone does, you have a choice to make. To sin or not to sin. You can either accept that; as horrible as some pains are, pains happen, pain is just part of the fall of man, or you can get angry and bitter at those who haven't been hurt the way you've been hurt." I was floored that, for one, God answered my question so quickly, but that He had been working on the answer to my question before I asked it. Isn't He amazing!
Talk about a lesson learned. James 1:20 says, For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (ESV). It's easier to be angry, at least for me, than to be vulnerable and weak. We want to be strong and independent but God wants us to depend on Him. He wants us to come to Him for our healing. He is more than willing if we humble ourselves and ask. I pray that bitterness and anger will fall away from your heart. I pray that you were moved by this little life lesson via my children the same way I was.
Father please help us to see when we are filling up our heart with bitterness instead of relying on You for our healing and our strength. God pain hurts but You are willing and able to heal all hurts. Thank You for the pain that You endured as You watched Your Son be crucified so that we might be reconciled to You through faith in Jesus Christ. God You are good, please use this blog for Your purpose and for Your glory in Jesus name amen.
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