I'm sure there are cynics out there that say that God isn't real. Some others may say he might be real, but he doesn't care about me. "Do you know what's happened to me in my life?" or "Why does God feel like He's got to pick on me? What did I do to Him?" I'll admit up front that I feel like I've had a blessed life. I was raised by parents who loved me and are still married. I went to the college I always dreamed of attending. I married the love of my life, and we have a healthy (although "busy-body" little) son who I wouldn't trade for the world. I love my job and the people I work with (that's the truth, really). So a cynic may not appreciate my point of view on this. We still struggle with money, figuring out how to discipline a busy-body little 3-year-old, and don't seem to have enough time for the ones we love among other things. But as a Christian, I would like to think that I would still have this world-view even if the struggles were tougher.
Our lesson this month in Sunday School was on apologetics, defending our Christian faith. It seems that Christian values are under constant attack so you have to be strongly rooted in the things that you believe. The last lesson was on the fact that God is in control. He's a personal God who loves and cares for each of His children even though they may spite him to His face. I believe he sent His Son to die a horrible death so that I can be eternally forgiven for my sins. He's not a God that created the universe and now sits back to watch us fight it all out. He tries to lead each of us to His love that I feel we all need and yearn for in some way. So yes, I do think that God cares about the details.
This was made even clearer by some events that took place this week. If I may tell the story... I usually work on-site at one of our clients on Wednesday. Well this week, I went up on Tuesday. It just so happened that I needed to get my network access renewed at the client office (this is something that I have to do only once every 3 months, so it's pretty infrequent). I was there early so there was only one lady in the entire department where I sit. While I was walking over to ask her for help, another guy walked by and spoke to her. She sounded congested so he said he was sorry to hear she was still struggling with allergies. Her eyes were red, but she said that it wasn't allergies but that her husband wasn't doing well. I've known her for a couple of months, and we usually speak for a few minutes when I'm on-site. We've not gotten past casual conversation. But she began to tell me of her husband's struggle with a cancer relapse. I'm not very good in these situations in knowing what to say. I talked about the only thing that came to mind, that God had a plan. He wouldn't take us through anything that He didn't think we could handle through faith in Him. We go through things in life and God will lead us a little deeper into the water to strengthen our faith in him. As she sat with tears rolling down her face, I could only think that God had lead us to that moment. He was using me at that moment to talk to somone who was having trouble finding peace in a turbulent time. And it wasn't the specific words that I was saying that would make her or her husband's pain go way. It was the reassurance that God is in control. Sometimes it helps to hear someone else say it.
That has stuck with me all week. How many times do we miss the opportunity to help someone? It may be just a caring word or a kind inquiry when you know someone is struggling. God calls us to be encouragers of each other and to not beat each other down to make ourselves feel better. I got an email from her this morning that said he husband is during better after visiting the doctor. He's worrying less and returning to his normal self. Was it our conversation that caused that? No. But I think that God did teach us both something in that conversation. Sometimes all we can do is pray and rely on Him to provide something or someone that will give us strength. Because through our weakness we will see His strength.
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