I used to babysit in our home. One morning a mom dropped her kids off and let me know her girl had lice. She assured me they were taking care of it but inside, I panicked! Not for her, but selfishly for me. Lice were a plague I never wanted to encounter. As a mom of school-aged kids, I heard of the horrors of lice and the outright war it took to combat it. I certainly didn’t have the time or energy for that - I had four small children of my own.
Once I calmed down, I began wondering what to do. Should I keep babysitting that kid every day? Then I remembered Jesus spending time with lepers. He never seemed worried about staying a safe distance away but continued loving and helping those many considered to be untouchable. If God can be with lepers, He can protect my family from lice! That I knew.
So, I continued providing care each day, trying to be very careful and praying like crazy that God would protect us from lice. Days later, I looked out my kitchen window into our yard only to see my daughter wearing the coat of her friend with lice! How that happened, I have no idea, but sure enough, we learned God’s plan was not to keep us from lice but to take us through it.
Since then (yes, we survived), God has chosen not to spare us from but to take us through break-ins, heartbreaks and even cancer. Each time I prayed, asking the Lord to spare us from the threat but instead, He took our hand and walked us through it.
What about you? Are you facing something scary and asking the Lord to guard you from it? Many times God does answer those prayers with a yes, but David writes in Psalms 119:71, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”
God’s word says, “The Lord is near to the broken hearted,” Psalm 34:18. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” Psalm 46:1. If we wanted to be closer to God, these verses show us how it can happen. When we are in the darkest moment of our lives, we become desperately aware of our need for God because we have no one else to cling to. Amazingly it is there we experience firsthand God holding us, providing, helping and comforting us while He inches us through to the other side. Safely past the threat, we look back and can agree with David; going through allowed us to know God in a way we would never have if He spared us.
- Charlene Ramstead Regina Beach, Lumsden, Craven, Southey Layperson
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Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.
