Blocked Pathways

God blessed my husband and me with four boys. I confess, there were days, when I questioned whether it was a blessing or not . . .

Boys are loud, physical, and boisterous. They love to climb on furniture, use sticks for weapons and beat up their brothers.

But, I have to say, I love them! Because what you see is what you get. They tell it like it is. They get mad and then they’re over it. They will pick on their baby brother and then if anyone else tries to pick on them they will defend them “to the death”.

Boys know how to play. They design huge elaborate games and they’re never bored if they have another one around. And they have given me a storehouse full of great stories and memories!

My boys taught me so many things – to not take myself so seriously, to live every moment to the fullest and to love life. God also used them in my life to teach me things about Him.

I remember one day hearing screaming coming from our back hallway (never a good sound). I knew it was my youngest, Logan, he was about 18 months old. I ran to where the sound was coming from and saw him with a beat red face crying and yelling for all his might. My oldest, Wes, who was around 10 at the time, was blocking Logan from going down our back stairway. He looked up at me, with this pleading look on his face and said, “Mom, he wants to go down the steps and I can’t let him because he’ll fall and get hurt!”

And in that moment, God gave me a snapshot of how I am with
Him . . .

I make my plans, sometimes offering the token prayer but really never considering Him or seeking where He wants me to go and then I pursue those plans with all my heart. And when I’m thwarted I throw a temper tantrum because I don’t get my way, never realizing that it is the Hand of God protecting me from harm.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Do I believe that? Why do I question that God doesn’t have my best interest at heart when he laid down His life for me? What about you? Do you ever get mad or frustrated because God isn’t giving you what you want?

In some distorted way, many of us feel that God owes us. That if we’re living our lives to please Him He should give us what we want and when we don’t get it, we get mad and throw a fit. But what we want isn’t always what we need. And God is not in the business of making us comfortable. He is about molding and shaping us to be more like Him.

Teach us to . . . Trust you, LORD with all our heart;
to not depend on our own understanding.
But seek your will in all we do,
and you will show us which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6