Lord, I do not understand Your ways, but You know the way for me

Good Tuesday morning, my friends.

Yesterday kind of got away on me, and I did not get a prayer sent out.  I trust you compensated with one of your own!

Rosemary and I were watching a movie on the weekend in which there was an interesting exchange between two men.  One of them was struggling with his faith, wondering how God could have allowed some terrible things to happen.  The other man told him a story about something that happened to him when he was about five years old.  He had a puppy that died.  When that happened, that five year old boy was very frustrated with God, wondering how this puppy, that was the most important thing to him in the entire world, could be taken from him.

I thought about that story and what the man was trying to convey to his friend.  What I think is that we are like the five year old boy.  We are so narrow in our focus, so immature in our thinking, that we cannot see outside the bubble of our current circumstances.  The adults around that boy surely would have sympathized with him, but would also have understood that there was going to be a lot more to that boy's life as he grew than that one puppy.  They knew he would learn lessons about life from the death of the puppy.  They knew he would go on to love other pets and people.  Well, God looks at our lives the same way.  While we can only see, and feel, what is going on around us at this moment, God has a much bigger perspective.  We must learn to trust more and more that He will heal, lead, and protect us.

Do you have any dying puppies in your life today?  Can you turn to God and say "I trust You"?  In Isaiah 49:14-18, God speaks to his people who believe he as abandoned them:

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, 

   the Lord has forgotten me."

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast 

   and have no compassion on the child she has borne? 

Though she may forget, 

   I will not forget you! 

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; 

   your walls are ever before me. 

Your children hasten back, 

   and those who laid you waste depart from you. 

Lift up your eyes and look around; 

   all your children gather and come to you. 

As surely as I live," declares the LORD, 

   "you will wear them all as ornaments; 

   you will put them on, like a bride.

You are engraved like a tattoo on palm of His hand.

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours today,

Bruce

O God, early in the morning I cry to you. 

Help me to pray and to concentrate my thoughts on you: 

I cannot do this alone. 

In me there is darkness, but with you there is light. 

I am lonely, but you do not leave me. 

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help. 

I am restless, but with you there is peace. 

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience. 

I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me... 

Restore me to liberty, and enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before me. 

Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised. 

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) - Composed in a Nazi prison while awaiting his execution.)

Bruce MacPherson  macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address.  Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.