Comparison Games, Paintings, and Questioning God

Did God really intend me to be the way that I am?
If we are the canvas and God is the painter, it's safe to say that all paintings are different. Perhaps I would go even a step farther than that. It's almost as if, with some of us, there are fewer colors available for the Painter to use when He starts painting. But somehow, all of the paintings end up to be masterpieces. This is even more remarkable when we consider that the paint is troubled...it's dirty. The Painter is continually cleaning up the paint that He uses. With all of the things that go wrong in our lives, we still end up as masterpieces.
However, the questions remains: Are some paintings better than others? The Painter would say, all of them are equally valuable. In fact, if the Painter sold all His paintings, they would all have the same price: Priceless.
Sometimes we're so busy playing the comparison game with others that we fail to realize how much God can do with each of us. This is when we need to stop questioning God's wisdom, stop listening to the outside voices that whisper doubt in our ears, and submit to the Painter's will. Because if we'll just go along with Him, we'll see how far He preparing to take us.
Romans 9:20-21 says, "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"
The answer to our question is yes. I'm exactly the way God wants me to be...and getting better every day.

Clouds, Umbrellas, and the Rain of God

When I woke up this morning it was pouring outside. Apparently, when it rains in Texas, it pours.
It's often the same way in our lives. Rain can be depressing. But it doesn't have to be. It has a very distinct God-assigned purpose. If you're not sure, just ask the farmer who's experienced a drought. Rain is not only necessary, but brings relief and even blessing.
Spiritual rain is the same way. We often fail to look past the dark clouds and unpleasant conditions, the humidity or the flooding. We hide inside our manmade spiritual buildings and avoid the relief and blessing God sends our way. We shelter ourselves from the elements, not realizing that's exactly the way God will come to us.
Revival is never dry. It's not orderly, or quiet, and it doesn't make sense. God comes to us in the sunshine, and we put on a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen to protect ourselves. Or we just stay inside altogether. God comes to us in the rain, and if we go outside at all, we take an umbrella and raincoat so we can stay dry. And so we remain dry and cold spiritually. If you really want God, there's no neat and orderly way to have Him.
We pray for God to come, and yet when He does, we don't want Him to be violent or fearsome. Yet that's what He is as much as anything else -- a force to be reckoned with.
With God, when it rains, it pours. Those who are okay with the pouring rain, get ready to dance in the streets. If you really want God, you have to accept all of Him. He doesn't want it any other way.

Narrow Roads, Suffering, and the Most Difficult Thing

Why are there so many people who say they want to find God and know God, and yet so few actually do?
There's a big discrepancy there. If we could see the road to God like the yellow brick road on The Wizard of Oz, it probably wouldn't be as wide or as colorful. I have a hunch that there would be more footprints branching away from the road then continuing on it, and that there are more people that fall and stay down than there are that keep going.
That's because the road to God is difficult. It's narrow, and hazardous. A lot of people don't realize that when they set out. It doesn't seem right that God would make himself difficult to find. But He does. And you know why? It's because the people who do find Him are dedicated, determined, sold out for Him. It's His way of sifting out the real followers, the ones who will actually go the distance for Him.
Why else would suffering, trials, and tribulations be so valuable and worthwhile? How often it is that God seems to be found in the most difficult thing. The hard decision that you have to make. The hard times that you're going through. The hard thing you have to do.
If you pray, "God, I want to know you," you might as well pray, "God, please make my life difficult." And then why do we complain? It's the best way to acquire character and the only way to learn dependence and trust on Him.
The best things are found at the end of difficult paths. The next time you have a decision to make and you're not sure which to choose, try the more difficult option. God's probably behind it.

Closed Doors, Drawing Boards, and the Best Thing

Here I am, back again. In a place of dependency on God and uncertainty about my present, and future.
It's hard to accept the answer "No" sometimes. It's somewhat inconceivable to imagine that God's blessing is in that phrase. But that's what God told me in the midst of my present situation. He intends that answer to be freeing for me. It's His way of saying, "This isn't the best thing for you right now." And isn't that what I want Him to do? It's hard getting a door closed on me, but if that's what it takes for me to get the message and get a handle on what God is doing in my life right now, so be it.
Here I am, back again. At the drawing board. At the place where I must let the Holy Spirit probe my heart and show me what I really want, and what I'm afraid of. Often, those two are the same thing. I'm human. I'd rather take the easy way out, make a way for myself, come to my own decision. But somehow, with God, the hard way always seems to be the way He chooses for me.
So, let's have it. I'll go the hard way. I'll accept "No" as an answer. I'll continue seeking God's will and invite Him to use circumstances to bring clarity and direction. I'll keep pursuing the best, knowing that to get there means that good things will say "No" to me and I'll say "No" to good things. Because good is always the greatest enemy of the best.
Here I am, back again. Waiting in God's presence. Continuing to ask questions, listen for answers, ready to go when He says something besides "No." Until then, I'll draw near to Him and stake a claim on the most valuable real estate in the universe -- the area in front of His throne.

QotRTP

"He who hoards does not get more, but he who gives often receives much."

quisnam?

Stubbornness, Life Lessons, and Complete Surrender

We don't know how much something is worth to us until it is taken away from us.
This is one of those hard truths of life. We have a tendency to hold tightly to what we have, but never realize what it's actually worth. You can never see what's inside your hand if your fist is closed around it. God desires us to live in a place where we are holding things with open palms. It's the same idea as Luke 9:24, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it." It's only in letting go, in giving the things that we most care about over to the Lord, that we get to keep them.
How many of us frequently pray, "Lord, take it away from me." Yet, isn't that what He does, and the attitude that He wants us to have? I know that I want to appreciate what He's given me. And I want to appreciate it before He has to take it away.
Even more than that, God can't take from us what we have already given to Him. So let's be people who leave nothing off limits to Him. Because the moment we say, "Lord, you can have everything in my life, but you can't have that." Or, "Lord, I'll do anything you want, but not that." Well, surprise, surprise. Guess what God does? He pursues that. Why? Because He wants it all. He wants us to be completely surrendered to Him, and He wants complete authority.
Would you want Him to be any other way? I don't know any other person who has mastered the art of teaching life lessons to stubborn people. And if you let Him, He'll do it in you all the time.