The Big Picture

Three words: God...is...faithful.

I'm sure after reading my latest few entries, I've had a pretty big burden on my heart: fear of the unknown. This fear combined with anxiousness resulting from waiting for an answer caused me to complete and utterly FREAK OUT.

Let me tell you a little story about myself that is rather humorous...but I have a point.

When I was six years old...I was deemed old enough by my parents to be worthy of getting my ears pierced. I was a big girl. I could handle the responsibility of earrings. I wanted these glistening gold balls in my ears so badly I could hardly stand it. So one afternoon, my dad brought home his ear piercing gun from the jewelry store, and he was going to give me the thing that I so desperately wanted...earrings. He wanted to make his daughter happy.

I was so excited about getting these earrings I couldn't WAIT to get started.

And then...it hit me. I had to go through BIG PAIN in order to get these shiny things in my ears! And then...the freak out began. Two hours of INTENSE, fluid flowing from all areas of my face, hard to breathe CRYING. I knew what I wanted, but the idea of the pain I'd have to go through was more than my six year old self could bear.

Then, my dad sadly decided that I wasn't ready. I wasn't prepared for getting earrings. He was going to put the tools away, and we'd wait til I was more mature to pierce my ears.

WHAT?! No earrings!!? I couldn't have this!! These things were my GOAL! I wanted them so badly I had been dreaming about them! I begged and pleaded with my dad to PLEASE pierce my ears...I promise I'll be still!

I swallowed my fear and closed my eyes. Two clicks and a surprising "that didn't hurt" later, I had my earrings!!!! The pain I had anticipated wasn't NEARLY as bad in reality as I had made it out to be in my head!



..........We do this a lot with many aspects of our lives, don't we? We ask God to bless us in our finances...in our careers...in our relationships...in our families...but then the first sight of pain or struggle we lose our minds entirely.

Do you think that if God told us we'd have to go through struggle in order to get what we want, we'd still ask for it? We want things to be easy...we want God to give us everything we want, right when we want it, no questions asked.

But God sees the bigger picture. Just like my dad did with my earrings. He knew it would only feel like a pinch. But I had to be the one to decide I still wanted the things I had asked for. God knows that we'll be okay at the end of the day, He knows He wants to shower us with blessings, but sometimes He wants to teach us important life lessons first: humility, patience, perseverance.

And when we look back on the struggles in our lives, and then where we stand today, we (more often than not) are able to say, as I did, "wow...that didn't hurt."

God sees the bigger picture. He is faithful. If you're in the struggle or pain phase of this process, just remember, it's all for a reason, and God is holding us in His hands. He won't let us fall.

Here's a video that Rob Bell did about this same topic...we can learn a lot about God's sight of the bigger picture by watching parents' relationship with their children. Check it out.

"Kickball"

Feel free to leave comments...I love reading what you all think.

ST