When Things Don't Go My Way

I don't know how many of you have really been kept up to speed on some stuff going on in my life lately. Some of you who are close friends of mine, or who read my blog, will know about this. Over a month ago the elders of my mom's church (Alief Church of Christ) came to me about my attendance there. Typically I go to my dad's church (First Colony Church of Christ). They came to me asking whether or not I really considered myself a member at Alief anymore. This really made me start thinking about my life a whole lot again. My home situation, all of that.

A little over a year ago I was really down about how my home is split. I live part time with my mom and part time with my dad. The talk about my membership at Alief seemed to bring about this whole thing again for me, and I was feeling really discouraged for awhile there. This whole this was really on my heart a few weeks ago, and that's when I wanted to write this lesson, but I never did. So I write it now to let you guys know what's been going on with me, and to share a couple of verses that got me through it.

I spent a lot of time, both a year ago and some weeks ago, feeling very upset about my life. I was very dissatisfied. I kept wishing that my home was not one that was split, but that I could have a specific family and a specific home. I kept desiring other things. I just kept wishing for something different than what God had given me.

I opened up my Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter six to see what was going on in this book, also because I really wanted to write more in Bible For Life, when I found a couple of verses that completely spoke to me, how I was feeling, and what I was facing. The first verse God showed me was this:

"Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind."

The next verse that really spoke to me was one that I had found and highlighted sometime before. It says:

"Notice the way God does things; then fall into line. Don't fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked?"

This was amazing to me.

To me the first verse I saw meant to stop desiring a different home situation and to accept what God has given me. To you maybe it means that you should stop wishing it was still summer or wishing that you had some leadership role in some organization. Maybe it means you should stop dreaming about that nice car that you want or when you will get your driver's license for that matter. The second verse spoke much more to my heart.

The second verse touches on the idea that God might just make something in our lives crooked that was once straight. For instance family or marriage. He could take these things and break them apart. Make them crooked. But who is to try and straighten out what He has made crooked? After all, this is the way God does things. So I should just fall into line and stop desiring what I don't have.

Sometimes I find myself saying things like, "I would give anything not to have gone through that." Or, "I wish (this particular thing) in my life was different." But then I wonder -- where would I be if I hadn't faced that trial? Or if my life was different than it is? Maybe I would be a completely different person, maybe I wouldn't know any of the amazing people in my life, maybe God is preparing me for something in my future that I will have to face.

There's really two things that I want you guys to take away from this study. One is that God has a plan for you. I don't understand why God decided for me to be born into a family that would be divorced, but I know that without it I wouldn't have ever known First Colony or any of the amazing people that are in it. Maybe without that I would never have had such a passion for God, who is the only constant in my life. God has put me in this place for a reason, and no matter what circumstances you are in right now, I know God has a reason why you are there. The second thing I want you to pull away from this lesson comes from the first verse that I had found. I think it means that we should just appreciate what we have for today instead of wanting something different right now. Maybe that change will come about later in life, but for now we have what we have and we need to use it for God's glory.

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Quotations from Ecclesiastes 6:9 and 7:13