Where is God When You Are Misunderstood

So where is God when you are misunderstood? I have been misunderstood a lot. And it is no surprise that I have been misunderstood again by my blogs. I have debated about how to handle the misunderstandings, if I should just let them go, but I think it is important to clarify what I meant. So here is a reply to the first comment on the last post:

Dear Anonymous,

I appreciate your feedback. I want to set a couple of things straight. I never said if I prayed enough I would be protected, I just said God answered my prayer with protection and provision. He may have answered my prayer by saying no, but that was not the case this time. He has told me no plenty of times. And if you knew me, you would also know that I DO believe that even the bad things that happen are all apart of God's plan for my life.

Again, I do not believe God cause bad things to happen but I do believe he allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.

I also never said that the people at Virginia Tech didn't pray. I never accused them of not being Christians or not being obedient or anything like that. Read it again to see. Their prayers may have been for protection and provision and God might have said, "No." Answering our prayers has nothing to do with how good of a Christian we are. In fact, we are all miserable examples of God's idea of a "good Christian." We are going to mess up and do the wrong things over and over. We could NEVER be a good enough Christian to please God or be good enough to get an answer to prayer. That's why what God does for us is called grace. And grace is an undeserved gift from God.

I am not sure who you are so I don't know if you have children. But if you do, or if there is someone in your life you love unconditionally, maybe it would make sense if I say it this way. I love my children with all of my heart. In fact, I didn't know my heart was capable of such love. And my kids try to please me but fall short all the time. They make mistakes. They break the rules, they get in trouble. So does that change my love for them? Does what they do make me any less likely to love them and care for them and do things for them? No, of course it doesn't. There is nothing my children could do that could cause my love for them to fail.

And that is the same way with God. There is nothing we could do that could change His love for us. In Romans 8:38-39 it says, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And just as my children could not ever do anything to "earn" my love for them - because they had it from the moment they were created - there is nothing we can do to earn love or favor from God. In fact, there is nothing we can do FOR God that He can't do for Himself.

So why did God answer my prayers in the affirmative this time? Only He knows. It is what was supposed to happen. My purpose in sharing that story with you and everyone else was not to say, "Wow. Look how special I am. God answered MY prayer." My purpose was to show you that God gave me the tiniest insight on His sovereignty by answering my prayers in an amazing, complete and generous way. He was proving to me that He is real and always with me. And I shared it in hopes that you and everyone else would see it, too.

And as far as the financial support comment; I am not really sure what you were trying to say. All I know is that I did not anticipate nor ask for it. It isn't like I am always bailed out financially, in fact, it is quite the opposite. In my adult life, there have been few times that has happened. But when it did, I believe it was God's provision for me and for my family. Each time I have been humbled and extremely grateful for the gift, as I am this time. And there have been times that God has told me, "no" and it has been OK. We made it each time.

The last thing I want to tell you is that you made the comment that maybe my daily inconveniences weren't really all that important to God's bigger plan. I can relate to that logic. I mean, really, how could God care about my flat tire?

Here's the thing, though. He DOES care. He cares about everything that happens in my life; the good and the bad, the big and the small, the important and the trivial. He is like the best best friend ever. He knows me inside and out. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." - Matthew 10:29-31.

Finally, I want you to know that I am praying for you, whoever you are. I understand your doubt and bitterness because I have been there. I know how miserable it must be to feel that way. My prayer for you is that God would soften your heart and help you understand His truths, that you would grow to know Him and most importantly that He would fill you with a peace that surpasses understanding.

Thank you again for being bold enough to post your comment. I hope you will continue to do so.

In Christ,

Michelle

Where is God When Your Tires Are Worn Out

Seems like a silly post to you maybe. Well, I imagine it will at first. And you're wondering, is this some creative metaphor or what?

No, loved ones. This time it is very literal. Sometimes my posts will be commentaries on a hot topic and sometimes they will be like this one, a personal story.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a pull on the front tires of my van. It was slight so I dismissed it. A few weeks later, I started feeling the notorious vibration that my wheels were out of alignment. The faster I drove, the more it would shake.

As you may know, I am a stay-at-home mom for with my two precious boys. It is a wonderful job, but my husband and I make some sacrifices, specifically financial sacrifices for me to be able to do this.

So when the vibrating got pretty rough a couple of weeks ago, we decided to wait it out until we got paid at the beginning of the month. There was nothing dangerous, as best as we could tell, by looking at our tires. So I prayed as I drove.

I would really pray when I traveled two times a week on the interstate to go to Bible Study Fellowship. It was about a 15-minute drive on the highway. The boys were always with me when I would go. So I would pray for safety and protection.

Today, I went to my very last Bible Study Fellowship for the year and my boys weren't with me this time. So on my trip there and back I was in prayer for my safety and praying gratitude for God's protection on my traveling thus far. There was a moment when I thought of what could have happened if something bad had happened ... and I pushed the thought out of my head as quickly as it came in.

After I returned from the study, I fed my boys lunch, took my oldest to school and took the youngest to my parents house. They were going to watch him while I took my sister in law to lunch as a thank you for watching my boys while I went to my last study.

She and I had a nice relaxing lunch and headed to pick up my youngest son from my parents. When we pulled into their driveway and got out of the car, we both immediately noticed a loud hissing. When we investigated, we watched my front right tire flatten in about 60 seconds flat.

That was the first time I had noticed a little bit of the steel belt showing through on the outside of the tire. It wasn't enough to cause a flat, so I figured I must have run over something right before I got to my parent's house since the tire flattened so quickly and in their drive way.

After figuring out what to do, I called my roadside assistance to come and change my tire. It is a wonderful service my mom got for me that is a lot like AAA. The service person arrived more than 30 minutes before their promised arrival time and quickly change my flat and put on the spare donut. I knew even before seeing the tire off, I would need a new one.

As the man pulled my tire off the rim, I saw the real reason for the flat. A large 2-inch-wide by 6-inch-long gap lay where the treading had been on the INSIDE of my tire. It lay open and had apparently ruptured as I turned into my parent's drive way.



Now you might be thinking this is a coincidence or luck. Luck that the tire didn't flatten in an inconvenient place, like a parking lot or driving my son to school. Luck that I wasn't in a rush to go somewhere. Luck that I didn't have a major blowout on the highway and have a devastating crash.

My sweet daddy kept repeating this phrase over and over to me. "Michelle, you are so lucky. I can't believe how lucky you are you didn't have a blow out." He was obviously shaken to have seen what a close call this had turned out to be. He was so thankful for our safety, he even bought not just one but three new tires and had them aligned. He said it was much better than seeing me or my family in the hospital ... or worse.

But I know that there is no such thing as luck. What happened to me today was God's answer to my prayers for protection and beyond that it was His provision. It was an answer to prayer for my safety as I traveled.

And not only did God provide safety, He even allowed me to attend my last Bible Study, run my kids where they needed to go, let me have lunch with my sister in law AND guided me safely into my parent's drive way before that tire finally was exhausted. He also knew I didn't have anything important to do this afternoon and had already arranged for my wonderful friend Angela to pick up my son from school. He covered everything.

And when I learned how much it would cost to replace the tires (two of the other tires were miles away from the same fate) I was really upset. Although we do have an emergency fund for situations like this, it was going to put a major dent in it. It was going to be a lot of money.

So God used my parents to provide for me. They so generously replaced my tires even if for their peace of mind and my safety.

God is so amazing. He knows everything that will happen before it does. He makes a plan for us to be safe and to provide for us. And on this day, he proved to me again that He is very real and very involved in every last little detail of my life.

God promises us His protection: Psalm 5:11-12 says, "But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield."

God, my refuge and my shield protected and provided for me today in unexpected and amazing ways. I am have no words for my gratitude and am sad to say amazed at what He can do for me.

To God be the glory for the things He has done, is doing and will do.