Knowing God's Plan

Life's Like This — Sometimes the paths that God sets for our lives are not the shortest, most direct routes, or at least that is how it appears. Quite often, we want to get to our destination on our own time schedule rather than exercising the patience needed to arrive at our destination according to God's plan. Knowing God's plan for our lives and what blessings He has in store for us are questions that many of us seek to know the answers to. It would be nice if we could just give God a phone call, or meet Him for a cup of coffee to discuss questions we have and to learn all the details we need to live our lives fully and in accordance with His plans for us. But God does not work that way; He wants us to exercise faith and trust in HIs Word that whenever we come before Him in prayer, that He will hear us and answer the burning questions we have in His time and in a manner that He chooses. And He wants us to know that He has our back, that He is always looking over our shoulder, keeping an eye on the road ahead, and speaking to us through the Holy Spirit with words of comfort and guidance as we face the trials of life. If truth be told, most of us are not willing to wait on God. We want His blessings now, on our own time schedule, and in a manner or way that we choose.

Willing to Wait

Life’s Like This — From the mundane to the profound moments of our lives — from waiting on traffic lights and elevators to the end of suffering or the fulfillment of dreams — life gives us no choice but to wait. Yet waiting is not a quality that most of us can honestly say we have, in fact, patience seems to be a virtue in short supply. In our fast paced, hectic world, patience seems to be eluding all of us in some degree or another. It isn’t surprising to find ourselves caught up in situations where it would be helpful to have that extra degree of patience to help us get through a difficult situation or even seemingly insignificant moments that can cause us undue stress. There are some of us that seem to have the patience of Job, a man that lived a very faithful and righteous life, yet endured one infliction after another without ever cursing God’s name. It would be nice if we could all lay claim to the example of Job, but unfortunately, we instead get frustrated or angry with the situation we are confronted with and often resort to behavior that is shameful or simply immature. And when we lose patience in any given situation, it is, in most cases, ourselves that suffer the consequences of our behavior.

Unbridled Compassion

Life’s Like This — A thoughtful act or kind word may pass in a moment, but the warmth and care behind it stays in the heart forever. It seems that you can’t go a day in your life without something pulling at your heartstrings, something that arouses a deep concern or sympathy for the plight of others. It may be a story you hear on the news, one that speaks of a family searching for a missing loved one. It may be images of children in third world countries living in squalor and whose bodies are so emaciated that they are on the brink of death. And, it may be those children with special needs, who live with a variety of debilitating conditions that we may sometimes prefer to close our eyes to and pretend they are not there. The truth is, there are countless people whose lives are filled with despair, and who, on the surface, may appear to be living lives with no hope for the happiness that we so often take for-granted. Unfortunately, even within our own family, circle of friends, neighbors and people we work or associate with, there can be sadness and hopelessness that cries out for someone to show some compassion and understanding for the situation that is consuming their thoughts and day-to-day lives. This is the nature of life — it is filled with told and untold stories of those that are in need, who are suffering from situations or conditions, and that are in need of people to reach out in a spirit of love and compassion to help them through the storm in life they are passing through.