A deviation from the norm.

This week I find myself in a reflective mood, reviewing the exceptional experiences that we had with family and friends over the past weeks and the road ahead.  The sermon this past Sunday seemed to tie my diverse thoughts and plans together.

Many times in life we find ourselves in situations where we know the solution is beyond our control and our understanding and we pray for help.  But recently I have noticed that we are really not praying for help or for a solution rather we are praying for God to justify our solution.  Now it may seem silly to believe that we know better than God how to resolve these difficult situations yet we find ourselves trying to convince God that he should agree with our solution and make the world right according to our vision.

Looking back I noticed this being my behavior when I started dealing with my Moms declining health.  I of course prayed that he would give her strength to fight this terrible disease and become her old self again.  Instead, God knew that she would be better off with him and thus found a way to deliver her in such a way as to bring comfort to all of us.  Although I still would have preferred by solution, I thank God for his.

The next instance was about 1 year ago. We were all praying for a solution to my sister’s issues and of course our solutions involved God making her “normal”.  God once again choose his plan but we can see the logic and the love in his solution. 

But this was all really brought to light recently when we were preparing to move back to Shanghai with our dogs.  We had done everything we could possibly do to make this plan work but it really was a flawed plan.  But instead of admitting that it was a flawed plan, we prayed for our solution (a cold day in the middle of July!).  Alas, it was not to be.  As I was bemoaning the fact that I would lose the comfort that they bring me for my difficult life in Shanghai,   the pilot came on the plane’s loudspeaker to say that we would have to wait on the tarmac for an hour before we could take off.  This would have meant that the dogs would have been exposed to 90 degree plus heat and another unexpected hour while they readied themselves for the 15 hour flight in a small crate.  Then once we arrived in Hong Kong no one was there to meet us, fortunately I reached them by phone and they said that they thought we were arriving the following day, this would have been yet another stressful event for the dogs.  And as if this was not enough, the next morning on the flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai, we had to wait another 1 hour on the tarmac but this time it was in 95 degree heat. 

Put your trust in the lord and he will deliver (his way!).  A life lesson well learnt.