We have do our devotions if we want to know God's way.
Otherwise it's so easy to think . . .oh wow! This is a GOOD THING. It's obvious to me that I am to do XYZ thing. But . . .not so fast. God might have another idea about things.
My youngest is three. She's got big brown eyes and blond curls and she is super adorable.
I forget sometimes that she's just three because she really is quite precocious. But then she'll remind me. A couple days after Valentines Day I was reminded once again that Little Miss hasn't quite grasped the Ten Commandments yet.
Candy is a big deal at our house. We only do candy on special occasions . . .so, like I said, it is a BIG DEAL. Now that Firstborn has a job she can buy her own candy . . .and she does! We do have a rule "No eating something in front of other people unless you are willing to share." Firstborn is quite aware of this rule and she abides by it.
We have another rule, too. "Thou Shalt Not Go Into Big Sister's Room Unless You Are Invited In."
And of course, we try to live by the Ten Commandments. You knew I was going to get back to that!
So anyway, Little Miss burst into the kitchen with dark chocolate in her hands a couple of days after Valentines Day. Not just a little bit, either, but at least ten squares and a rather impressive dark chocolate turtle. She was pretty excited because, wow! Candy! How could this not be a good thing?
At first I figured that somebody had shared with her, but I quickly discarded that theory! One doesn't NOT give that much candy to a three year old! And then I knew . . .
Little Miss had violated the Sister Room Law! But worse than that, she had STOLEN.
I'm not sure she even knew the word or the concept, but I took her little chin in my hand and I explained to her that she could not take Sis's candy. Daddy took her downstairs and she returned the chocolate and learned how to apologize.
Little Miss is going to have a better life now than she would have if she had learned ( by not getting taught ) to take other people's stuff.
And you know? I spent quite a few years pretty much convinced that I didn't need to pray. Not really, because I was sure I knew God's will. Bible college? Of course. How could that not be God's will? Full time ministry? Of course! Of course! How could that not be God's will?
And yet . . .my life still had problems. Was it because Bible college was a bad thing? No.
Was it because full time ministry was a bad thing? Well, full time ministry is NOT a bad thing, but I'm pretty convinced now that it was not MY thing.
And the problems? I don't think God chose it for me. I think it happened because we hit some major stressors . . .like everybody else on planet earth.
God promises to make all things beautiful in His time. And He has made my life beautiful since these things happened . . .I've taken chances I probably never would have taken before and I'm super glad that my family and I have grown and changed the way we have.
But without us being willing to listen to God and accept that maybe we DIDN'T know God's will . . .none of the beautiful changes would have happened.
If Little Miss hadn't stolen, she wouldn't have learned that it was WRONG and she wouldn't have learned how to apologize . . .but she had to LISTEN to me to learn that lesson. Had she gone somewhere else and eaten the chocolate instead of coming to me . . .no lesson learned.
I'm somebody's child, too, and I have to share my life with Him to know His thoughts on things, too.
And I have to listen to God to learn His lessons and that listening can't happen unless I read my Bible and pray . . .unless I am in the same room as Him, interacting with Him.
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