What Will You Allow God to Do?

Way back when, when dinosaurs roamed terra firma... or, as I prefer to say, "When I was a little girl...." I had a high school physiology teacher who, I believe, really enjoyed his job.  He inserted personal anecdotes and views into his teaching, not because we were mindless dupes blindly, thoughtlessly falling for the influence of a respected teacher, but because we were taught to reason and consider that there were other perspectives to any argument.  One of the things that stuck with me was the view he and his wife shared on family.  They believed it was the job of Christians even today to follow the command of Genesis 1:28: to be fruitful and multiply.  Coupled with Philippians 4:19 which tells us God will supply all our needs, to them that meant, when it comes to children -- "keep 'em comin'!"  These days, we have the Duggars.  They have been vaulted and vilified for their philosophies and their techniques.  They have placed their lives under the microscope, subjected themselves to cultural and individual interpretations of everything from their spending habits to the number of times each week they bathe.  I'm not launching into a call for peace, love and understanding here, but my point is this: we are all, each one of us, fatally flawed and finite.  When asked and truthfully answered, we can all recall a moment when "we really blew it."  Should we stop judging others?  Absolutely, but as I said, that's not what this is about.

On one episode of "? Kids and Counting," one of the Duggar children became lost in the airport.  Upon finding him, the father remarked (I'm paraphrasing) that even families with two children lose a child and we all have to expect to lose one now and again.  This wasn't, I believe, some calloused moment of self-justification, but a moment in which he came face to face with the failures of his own humanity, and challenged us all to keep in mind, we share the same condition.  Not to make light of losing a child, figuratively or literally, but we lose people, possessions, youth, health -- all kinds of things throughout our lives.  We mourn -- as I said, we are only human.  The question is, "What do we allow God to do with those things moments of loss?"

"He who dies with the most toys wins."  Hoarders -- now a hot topic on reality TV.  Aren't these all symptoms of a society bent on acquiring everything it possibly can?  Filling its emptinesses?  Substituting its grief of loss with things or addictions?  But what would happen if we allowed God to use our loss, our grief, our hurt, our betrayal for His good?

Put simply, bad things are part of an imperfect world.  You have to expect them.  Are we wrong for remembering the journey put upon us is our own to reckon?  Is it wrong to think that our losses may be used by God to set us right? to make us stronger? to bring us to surrender?  It's pretty obvious that the painful sickness of a loved one is not what God wills; but what if He uses that to change you?  I don't believe that God wants to see my son where he is, but I am wrong to think He can't use that to make anyone of us different.  As humans, we focus on the wordly, the tangible, the things we see as possible or impossible.  How much better off we would be if we come to realize that God does supply all our needs in His capacity!  God is not bound by our rules or the Laws of Nature.  Like a parent, keenly watching over children at a playground, God sees the whole picture -- the dangers, the pitfalls, and the redemption of His children.  Will you allow Him to take your failures and heartaches and use them today?