A Father's Protection

There are often times in my life where I feel so protected from the evil of this world. I don't see it or hear about it, it doesn't affect me, and it most certainly doesn't interfere with my daily life. There are other times where I see it all, hear it all, and know all about the evil in the world and it affects my little heart times a million. This idea of sometimes feeling shielded and sometimes feeling exposed, made me ponder God and His protection of  His children. Like any great dad, I would imagine that God has to balance out the things we don't see for protection of our hearts with the things we do have to experience, for the formation of our character. In my own life, this concept is rearing it's head like no other.

I am marrying the most amazing man on the planet. I am the luckiest human in the world that he chose me and calls me the love of his life. However, like all of us, he comes with baggage. Baggage of 4 children (whom I love and adore like my own), and baggage of a previous marriage (that rips my heart in two every single day). Dealing with dating a previously married man, I have been exposed to a LOT that I normally would not have been. For a long while, we both felt super protected by the Lord and very insulated by the evil we knew was happening around us. Now, we are starting to hear things and see things and experience things that do not make us feel shielded at all, in fact, I've had days where I am sobbing outside looking up at the sky (because that's where God lives of course lol) begging "where did you go??"

My brilliant and amazing fiance told me yesterday that there are just some things we can not be protected from, because there are things we have to go through for character formation and in order to teach us things we need to learn. And that God has in fact, not disappeared, but has already prepared for us to walk through this hard and painful road just as He prepared for us to walk along the amazingly easy and painless one before this. Wow. I am marrying someone a lot smarter then I am :) (and I am TOTALLY ok with that!)

What my fiance said has been sloshing around in my head all night. That idea of being protected by the Lord BOTH when we walk a painless road being protected AND when we walk into the lion's den. Well folks, we are most CERTAINLY in the lion's den (prayers are much appreciated). I believe firmly now that God is using this time for character formation, and growth of our hearts as we are having to deal with people outside of us who are slandering our character, spreading false allegations about us, judging our decisions, and fueling anger and bitterness that are NOT emotions or tools of the Lord. At the end of this time, we are accountable for how we handle the situation and not for how others have treated us. And they will be judged for their sin (aren't we all ready for THAT day!)

There's an old saying or maybe it's a scripture, I don't really remember, but people will often say "God will not give you more then what you can handle"--and it reminds me of a story of a father's protection. My fiance, our kids, and myself, took a family trip to a Redbirds game a couple weekends ago. After leaving the game we made the trek up downtown Memphis to the Parking garage where we parked and through the elevator to get to our level. Coming off the elevator one of our youngest, Sam, saw our car and like a kid in a candy store ran straight for it...about the same time a (most likely drunken) man in a silver sports car of some sort came RACING around the turns of the parking garage descending downward to get out of there (as quick as possible apparently). All I knew to do was scream SAM!!!! to grab his attention and maybe make him run away, but my amazing husband to be just stepped right in front of all of us to shield us from what was potentially coming (and then of course yelled at the idiot driver who endangered the lives of his family).

God is like this I think. Never too far away to shield us from potential danger yet not always holding our hand and keeping us from falling down, making mistakes, and learning some painful lessons in life.

When times are hard, and man have they been hard lately, I am trying to hold on to the truth. The truth is that my upcoming union with this family is GOOD, and PURE, and a symbol of LOVE. It is ordained by God and supported by those also ordained by God. It is wrapped in prayer, and love, and wise council. It is a union created to bring honor and glory to the name of the Lord and to impact the kingdom in BIG ways. It is not of evil. It was not created out of selfish motives or self seeking intentions. Sure, it is judged and mocked and ridiculed (but as persecuted Christians we know in those moments that we are very evidently doing the Lord's true work). He promised us that it would be WORTH it, and definitely NOT easy. And although at times we feel isolated or seeking those to support our decisions, God has in fact supplied us with the exact people we need in our amazing support system. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. And if all of Jonesboro should turn against us, I know still, that we are not alone and that we have been CHOSEN to do this.

If you're reading this, I hope if nothing else that it just encourages you in your decision making. I used to be a person who strayed from making hard decisions for fear that they would be wrong simply because they would be difficult. And, you miss out on a lot of life by letting fear dictate your path.

In Him,
Meg