What is God trying to teach me?

A week has gone by and one question that keeps coming to me is “Why?” My pastor friend Trent Anderson once told me instead of asking “why?”, ask “what is God trying to teach me?”

So that is how I will approach my thoughts of the past week.

When God puts in front of me his precious children who are hungry, uneducated, sick and lack basic necessities of life, yet have the brightest of smiles, the kindest of gestures and pure joy in their heart, what is He trying to teach me?

When God shows thousands of people living in tents and shacks without water, electricity or sanitation, yet Praise and Thank the Lord, what is He trying to teach me?

When an earthquake causes mass destruction to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and they don’t have the capability to manage that crisis, what is He trying to teach me?

When children who have no parents or family to love them can be so obedient, affectionate and caring, what is He trying to teach me?

And when I see “special” children that have no services, therapy or compassion from those that surround them, what is God trying to teach me?

When the elders of a community bring us to the one smelly, dirty and pig infested toilet station for the community that closes at 6pm and charges a fee to use, what is God trying to teach me?

When I meet an uneducated mother with 5 children who can’t pay her rent and will be put out on the street, what is God trying to teach me?

And when faithful elderlies who have survived a tough life, are forgotten by society, what is God trying to teach me?

When hundreds of people tell me they are hungry and need food, but all I bring is clean water, what is God trying to teach me?

Why do I see potential, feel safe and have such compassion for these people, while others dare not go? And why does God bless us with wealth, opportunity and knowledge?

What is God trying to teach me?

I am still learning. I will never have all the answers. Life isn’t fair and God never promises it to be. He does promise to those who follow Him that He will provide for the day...and I believe He does...Sometimes I think we don’t realize how little it takes to get through a day because we have so much of everything.

I think God is teaching me that I must do everything I can. To stay focused. To use the gifts and talents He has blessed me with to work for His people. For years, He has been teaching both Jeff and I skills to prepare us for “such a time as this”. He is continually teaching us about patience. And He has instructed us through His word to care for the poor, the widowed and the orphaned.

We forget that we already have everything we need in Him. I think God is reminding me that He is with those who have faith in Him. He feels their pain and suffering. He never leaves them. He gives us the opportunity to care for His people. To shine His light.

Many are delivered to Him through all of this suffering. Over 300,000 people have perished in the earthquake...I believe Heaven has gotten a bit more crowded.

Alyn