Why did this happen to me?

“Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were tied up and put in prison. They were killed with stones. They were cut in half. They were killed with swords. The only clothes some of them had were sheepskins or goatskins. They were poor, persecuted, and treated badly by others. The world was not good enough for these great people. They had to wander in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground.”
Hebrews 11:36-38 ERV

Our pastor is about 6 months into the book of Hebrews. This was a verse from Sunday that may be the most important thought I have had lately. I had written about it yesterday morning and the IPad deleted it when I finished it. I always think that this is the enemy trying to delete a powerful message so I will try again. 

These verses were written about faithful saints...not the wicked. Let that thought sink in. This was taken from the "faith" chapter. How many times have you thought "why is this happening to me?" How often have you thought that the suffering that you are experiencing is unfair because you are a follower of Christ? We have this erroneous thinking that God owes us blessings because we are living right. On the contrary, with Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father, there are decisions made in heaven that confound us but should never cause us to lose our faith in the wisdom of God. 

The power of these verses is wrapped around this truth...heaven is NOT here on earth. These saints believed that their extreme joy was waiting for them in heaven and not on earth. A death, an illness, a divorce, a job loss, a wayward child are not a cause to doubt the love of a Heavenly Father. God has the best plan for us. You can't always understand it but you can trust him. His promises are ultimately seen and experienced in heaven. 

“God was pleased with all of them because of their faith. But not one of them received God’s great promise. God planned something better for us. He wanted to make us perfect."
Hebrews 11:39-40a ERV

What is Your One Thing?

So the Lord is waiting to show his mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is the God who does the right thing, so he will bless everyone who waits for his help. (Isaiah 30:18 ERV)

I think that every woman has this "one thing." It's the one thing that we tell God, "can you just answer this one big thing and I will be happy." We tell him that everybody else has this "one thing" so why can't I? We compare how other people's kids are doing. Are they happier, are they more well-behaved, are they performing better in school, are they running after the Lord? Maybe the "one thing" for some of us is that we have been unable to have kids. 

We compare how other women's husbands rate next to our husband. Are they sweeter, more romantic, stronger, better job, etc? We compare how other women look compared to us. Are they skinnier, better hair, more friends, etc? The "one thing" could certainly be a health issue that God is not intervening with and bringing complete healing.  

The list goes on and on. Then our prayer becomes "Can you fix this one thing, Lord, so I can feel blessed like they are? "

I am no different from any other women in this area. I have my "one thing." God is usually silent on the "one things" that are in my life. He does not explain his reasoning to me. If you asked my mom about this, she would say that I drove her crazy by saying, "Why can't I do this? You have to tell me a reason." She assured me that she did not owe me a reason:):):). 

However, I keep reading that God wants me to WAIT. I hate that word, don't you? So when I read this promise this morning, I realized that God is so wise. He wants me to trust him in his silence. He wants to do things on my inside and not my outside.  He says he will bless me if I WAIT. Because he will do the right thing. Yep, he will do a good thing. And he even helps me when I can't wait.

Romans 8:26-28The Message (MSG)

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.