I was talking to my son last night. I was trying to explain to him about how God loves him. Earlier that day he had asked me what a miracle was, and I thought this moment was the time to explain.
"God loves us so much that sometimes He shows us with a demonstrative sign, a sign that we can see or feel or touch, called a miracle. Like when someone is very sick and doctors have tried everything, but they can't cure the illness and then suddenly that person is well. That would be a miracle."
John responded,
"If God loved me so much, why did he give me three sisters?" John loves his sisters. He just doesn't understand why he has sisters and not brothers, which would be much more like his vision of a perfect life.
After some thought, I tried to explain to him something that most likely some church doctor has explained, and I'm just a little slow on the uptake. God gave him sisters because that is the greatest good for John.
I don't know why I never thought of the will of God like this before. We make choices, we make good choices and bad ones and even a-moral ones, and God takes those choices and gives us the greatest good from them. And we can choose how we perceive what God has given us.
I will never forget a story from a book I read in High School. I don't remember the title, but the true story happened in a concentration camp during world war two. Two sisters were suffering with bed bugs in one of the bunkers of the concentration camps. One sister insisted that they both thank God for everything, even the bed bugs, every night. They found out later that those bed bugs kept the guards from coming into the bunker and discovering their bibles. Those bed bugs were the greatest good.
But more than that, sometimes we can't even perceive what great good God has in store for us, because ultimately every thing that God gives us in life, brings us to heaven. If one chooses to take everything that is given him and loves God for it, imagine how easy his path to heaven, because that is the ultimate good. That is all God wants. He wants us to live forever with Him in heaven, and He gives us constant opportunity regardless of how many times we reject His will.
The mind of God is a mystery, but know that He only desires you, and this life is your path to heaven.
**********
My friend Jess reminded me the book was The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
"God loves us so much that sometimes He shows us with a demonstrative sign, a sign that we can see or feel or touch, called a miracle. Like when someone is very sick and doctors have tried everything, but they can't cure the illness and then suddenly that person is well. That would be a miracle."
John responded,
"If God loved me so much, why did he give me three sisters?" John loves his sisters. He just doesn't understand why he has sisters and not brothers, which would be much more like his vision of a perfect life.
After some thought, I tried to explain to him something that most likely some church doctor has explained, and I'm just a little slow on the uptake. God gave him sisters because that is the greatest good for John.
I don't know why I never thought of the will of God like this before. We make choices, we make good choices and bad ones and even a-moral ones, and God takes those choices and gives us the greatest good from them. And we can choose how we perceive what God has given us.
I will never forget a story from a book I read in High School. I don't remember the title, but the true story happened in a concentration camp during world war two. Two sisters were suffering with bed bugs in one of the bunkers of the concentration camps. One sister insisted that they both thank God for everything, even the bed bugs, every night. They found out later that those bed bugs kept the guards from coming into the bunker and discovering their bibles. Those bed bugs were the greatest good.
But more than that, sometimes we can't even perceive what great good God has in store for us, because ultimately every thing that God gives us in life, brings us to heaven. If one chooses to take everything that is given him and loves God for it, imagine how easy his path to heaven, because that is the ultimate good. That is all God wants. He wants us to live forever with Him in heaven, and He gives us constant opportunity regardless of how many times we reject His will.
The mind of God is a mystery, but know that He only desires you, and this life is your path to heaven.
**********
My friend Jess reminded me the book was The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
