When we began our spiritual journey, it was really exciting. One blessing after another fell on us. We just couldn’t praise God enough. Our hearts filled with joy and enthusiasm because we saw the power of God at work in our lives and in our friends. By the way, enthusiasm means to be overflowing with God. Our Christian walk was no longer an external practice of religion but a real and living experience.
Disappointments & unanswered prayers
But we also experienced some trials that challenged our new faith in God. In the space of one week, our two-year-old came down with chicken pox; he couldn’t eat because of the sores in his mouth. We prayed & prayed, but ended up taking him to an emergency room at a hospital for relief.
Then I had a horse accident, which has affected me for my entire life. The horse I was riding stumbled and fell down; my hip was trapped under his weight. Following this, our two-year-old burned his hand on a camp heater. Ouch! We prayed and prayed and prayed, but his pain lessened oh, so, slowly.
I wondered, What happened? How come God isn’t responding to our prayers like He did early on? Where is He now?
God is in control
My friend, Ralph Nault, explains my confusion: “When we start our spiritual journey, the first months, maybe a year or two, are bliss, then it is time to start growing up. Most of us don’t like that, we fight with God, we plead with God, and we try to tell God what to do. Thank God things begin to level out after a while. We start growing up spiritually.”
“We stop fighting with God and demanding our own way. We begin to see His way is better than ours. The ups and downs level out, and we begin a gradual climb upward. We still have problems and sicknesses, difficult children, all the things that are part of this world, but we find that we are different. We have confidence that God is in control and He knows what He is doing. Because of this, we are able to handle each day as it comes and whatever it brings.” http://www.ralphnault.com/2013/10/18/spiritual-growth-88-ups-and-downs/
I am different
Even though we experienced these disappointments and unanswered prayers, the witness of God’s presence remained alive in our hearts.
In San Diego, when our middle son was diagnosed with leukemia, I had seen my world fall apart, yet I also had encountered a living God and His power. Now, in the years ahead, nothing could take this from me. I felt like a young child, filled with joy and enthusiasm, as we established ourselves in New England. I knew God was alive and with us—right in our own family. I belonged to Him.
…you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16).
Question: Who do you belong to? Try saying everyday, “Abba Father, I belong to you.”