Peace, Joy, And Other Things I Don't Deserve

A week of bad news is winding down. It has been like a sledgehammer - WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!!!! I was feeling overwhelmed last night but did manage to drift off to sleep, only to be awakened by some really messed-up nightmares.

God answered a direct prayer this morning.
A friend of ours from our old church group offered to loan us his car for as long as we need it. His was the first email I read this morning, and my head just about exploded with joy and amazement. I later commented to a friend, "It's amazing what happens when you stop complaining and start praying."

Which is not to say that God is my vending machine. You don't stick a prayer in the slot and out pops your prize. You think this world is crazy? Imagine what it would be like if that's how easy prayer was and if that was how simple God's workings were. You'd have all sorts of crazy "prizes" popping out and the world would be a million times more chaotic than it is already.

After being smacked in the head by a sledgehammer all week, the number one prayer that has been answered can't be seen or measured in a human way: PEACE.

Turns out God was right all along - if we just do what He tells us to do, we'll find success. Now, lately, the word "success" has translated into job/financial issues for me, but as the story unfolds, I'm realizing it means much more. I'm finding that success means being able to live in a world of chaos without your life becoming uncontrollably chaotic. I'm finding that success means being able to keep your grip on the floaty raft when the tsunami comes in. You can't always fix a problem. Sometimes your best bet is to ride it out, survive it, and come out with a great testimony when you reach dry land.

I'm hanging onto the floaty raft of God's grace and mercies being the same even when everything else is unpredictable and totally sucks. How's that for being blunt?

The thing that really blows my mind is how little I deserve anything good.
Seriously, think about it. A lot of us would have very pitiful lives if we treated our fleshly friends the way we treat God. Friends aren't friends if you only talk to them when you need something. That's called having a sugar daddy, not having a friend. If you ditch your friends and isolate yourself every time something goes wrong, you're going to eventually hurt someone's feelings, but how often do we do that to God?

God is an all-weather kind of friend. We're not. Well, some are better at it than others, but none of us measure up to the kind of friend God is. We really don't deserve God-friendship.

So if you think life is terrible and you don't deserve the bad break you've been dealt, try looking at it from this perspective: you don't deserve the good stuff, either. And yet, you have it.

Life is not fair, and that's a real good thing. Pin It