Sunday Morning Musings: how can we trust God?
There's a story whipping around the internet about a mother and father who recently lost their two sons in a tornado. I shared on my Facebook page last week, but it bears sharing again here:
The Cheerleader
What blows me away about this story is not the faith of the mother, who is boldly holding fast to her trust in a loving, caring God. That's big, amazing faith, to be sure, but the really challenging piece of the story is that the family had just moved to the house late last fall. So you could say God prompted a family that loved Him to move into a new house, and then allowed a tornado to destroy that house. Huh. That's a tough bit to swallow - when we go through trials that seem to be orchestrated to produce sorrow.
Every since Stacey died last spring, my oldest daughter has occasionally asked why God lets hard things happen. This week Ava brought the subject up again: "Mom, the thing I don't get is, God knows everything that's going to happen! And still the bad things happen. Why does He do that? I mean, He doesn't have to stop all of them, just the really bad things, like Aunt Stacey dying."
Or like a mother burying her all children. Oh my heart. My eyes were full of tears this time as I struggled to answer my daughter, to help her understand why God would ever separate families this way. I tell her I wonder too. I sit down in front of her and say that there's no easy answer. I pray silently and wait for words.
What I tell her is that, even thought I don't know why, I know Who. I know who my God is, and I know the Father's love for me is beyond measure, and sometimes that has to be enough. How often we say to our children, you don't understand this right now, so you have to trust that I'm doing what is right for you. How often it seems God is saying this to me.
How can we trust God? Only by knowing who He is and resting in that truth. By looking back over the pages of our lives and seeing His hand in the light and through the dark. Go read this family's story and remind yourself. God is good. Always.
The Cheerleader
What blows me away about this story is not the faith of the mother, who is boldly holding fast to her trust in a loving, caring God. That's big, amazing faith, to be sure, but the really challenging piece of the story is that the family had just moved to the house late last fall. So you could say God prompted a family that loved Him to move into a new house, and then allowed a tornado to destroy that house. Huh. That's a tough bit to swallow - when we go through trials that seem to be orchestrated to produce sorrow.
Every since Stacey died last spring, my oldest daughter has occasionally asked why God lets hard things happen. This week Ava brought the subject up again: "Mom, the thing I don't get is, God knows everything that's going to happen! And still the bad things happen. Why does He do that? I mean, He doesn't have to stop all of them, just the really bad things, like Aunt Stacey dying."
Or like a mother burying her all children. Oh my heart. My eyes were full of tears this time as I struggled to answer my daughter, to help her understand why God would ever separate families this way. I tell her I wonder too. I sit down in front of her and say that there's no easy answer. I pray silently and wait for words.
What I tell her is that, even thought I don't know why, I know Who. I know who my God is, and I know the Father's love for me is beyond measure, and sometimes that has to be enough. How often we say to our children, you don't understand this right now, so you have to trust that I'm doing what is right for you. How often it seems God is saying this to me.
How can we trust God? Only by knowing who He is and resting in that truth. By looking back over the pages of our lives and seeing His hand in the light and through the dark. Go read this family's story and remind yourself. God is good. Always.
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