Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write an INSPIRATIONAL or DEVOTIONAL piece (04/26/07)
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TITLE: God's Way, not Our Way | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marc Smith
05/01/07 -
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Mike and Keri had been life long friends. As a matter of fact, their parents had grown up as best of friends. So when the two were married it came as a shock to no one. Like most newly-weds, Mike and Keri had grand plans of family, home, and career, and like most newly-weds were increasingly confused when “real life” stared them square in the eyes. Their plans for the future took on a whole new look. Their life together had begun with Mike struggling to find a suitable job, Keri working full-time to make ends meet and going to school to finish her degree, and struggles conceiving their first child.
Throughout these minor struggles the happy couple had relied on their faith to see them through. They were both very active in their church, and they tried to continue praying and reading Scripture. God had seen them through to better times, and they had thought their troubles were over. Then the unthinkable hit.
It had taken them about eight months to conceive their daughter, so when they starting having troubles trying to conceive their second it wasn’t very alarming. The first year past and they began to get nervous. Year two came and went and they started to get discouraged. After the third year hope was dwindling, and that hope vanished completely in the midst of year four.
So what do we do when God’s ways are not our ways? How do we react when His answer is no? How fast does our mind race to recite James 1:2-3 – “My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” Do we remember that our God, the only true God, is Sovereign? No matter what we are going through we can be sure God has control over it and has orchestrated it perfectly. You cannot read Psalm 139 without instantly thinking on the sovereignty of God. Psalm 139:16 states, “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” God knows us perfectly. His plan for our lives was made before we took our first breath.
Mike had forgotten these truths. Through all the “specialists” visits to numerous doctors over a six year span, he had stopped trusting in and relying on God for strength and encouragement. It had started slowly, unnoticeably, but with each “no”, with each closing door, he had slipped farther and farther away. Not only did they have trouble having their own children, but their attempt to adopt internationally had been crushed more than halfway through the process. Where had God gone? Didn’t He care? Mike’s heart had hardened and closed, until he was emotionally unrecognizable.
It wasn’t until a very long and disturbing email conversation with Keri that Mike started to see what was happening. He had begun to turn his back on God. The very events that were to be used to strengthen his faith were turning him away. He had forgotten God’s promise that he would “never leave you nor forsake you”. Mike had started to recognize that it was not God who had left, but it was he who had drifted away from God. It was that day that the healing process had begun. Was he instantly transformed into the man he once was? No, that would take time. Would there be struggles and setbacks on the road to recovery? Absolutely. However, Mike was keenly aware that he did not have to do it alone.
Mike looked up from the table and once again gazed upon the glowing beauty of his wife, who was now expecting their second child. He smiled; not because he had gotten want he wanted, but because he knew that the Lord had been with them every step of the way.
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Parts of this are more "telling" than "showing." One way to show us Mike's struggles might be though dialogue, or by other interaction with Kari.
I liked your happy ending.