On My Way Out

Today I found out that there was an opening in the bible school program that I want to get into and I realized once again God's power. I am signing up late and I wasn't sure on what would happen, and he pulled through. I know that sometimes he doesn't pull through in our prayers, or at least for what we are hoping, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't love us. No matter what happens, He is like our father. When we wanted to do something when we were younger, our parents would try to prevent us from doing it, but often, we would have to learn the hard way.

I remember one story of my younger brother. He was 2 years old when we were living in Saskatchewan. We had an older style toaster oven that we had on a small table in the dining room. One night, after supper, he walked up to the toaster and twisted the knob that was on the front, inadvertently turning on the toaster. Next,  he pulled down the door and stuck his hands inside, exploring, like any good toddler would do. I was washing dishes in the Kitchen when I heard him yell and ran into the other room. He had gotten third degree burns on his palms of his hands because he placed his little hands on the burner. My parents had told him numerous times not to do that but he was a kid, and he didn't know better. 4 months later, after his hands had healed, he did it again, obviously not learning from the first time.

In our lives we are just like this. We feel like we should get what we want, and when God doesn't give us the answer we want we adventure out on our own, exploring. This, too often than not, causes us to get burned and we say, "Why God," when it was our fault in the first place. Other times it is others that sinned which causes our lives to be drastically changed. It isn't God's fault, but those around us. Satan uses these situations to get the better of situations. God isn't our piñata that we can hit around and eventually get candy from. He is like a parent, giving us some things, but keeping others away, trying to teach us right from wrong.

God doesn't always answer our prayers, sometimes he closes a door that we really wanted to be open. In Jeremiah it says that God has a plan for us, and it isn't to harm us. It is amazing to think that no matter what happens He knows what is going on.

I know in my life there has been many times where I wondered where God was in my life or what he was doing. One of my favorite poems, Footsteps in the Sand, says it all. The one line that says, "When you have only seen one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you," is my hope for the future. No matter what happens that hurts or makes us feel like there is no hope, is when God is there holding our hand.

If you feel like God has hurt you in a way that you can't be healed, you are wrong. God didn't hurt you. Either it was by your own doing, or the doing of others around you. God allows things to happen to teach us a lesson, but he doesn't cause it to happen. This concept has taken me years to understand, and I know have years to comprehend it even more. Life throws curve balls, and I think it is time that we leaned on God for guidance in deciding whether to swing or wait. If you swing too soon or too late, it is strike out, so wait for God and he will help you hit a home run, even if you don't feel him beside you guiding your hands.