Although I believe in God, there are many things I can't quite understand. I grew up believing that God is all powerful. Why can't he just waive his hand and undo all the undesirable things that happen in my life? Why are there too many tough times?

I always have these questions in my mind. I dare not ask as I also fear God. But I have to ask to remove my doubts.

If you have a clue, pls let me know. Thanks

I have never been a very religious person but I have always been told that god will not let us go thru anything that we cannot handle, and there is a saying that goes, "If god brings you to it, he will bring you thru it"

Maybe you are going thru these things for a reason, they will help you learn and grow.

Hang in there, things WILL get better eventually, you just have to keep that in mind when the going gets tough.

Just in case you have never heard this poem, it does say alot:

Footprints In The Sand

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.


Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.


When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.


He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.


He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.


This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:


"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:


"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."



written by Mary Stevenson

I don't want to preach, but this is what I was taught.

For one, we were given free will. This means that God chooses to limit his power over us in order to give us a choice. After all, He wants friends, not slaves. Part of that choice however is to live with consequences. So some of the things you may be dealing with are either the consequences of your choices or the choices of others.

For two, this world is imperfect. It was created to be perfect, but when God gave humans free will, humans chose to disobey God. That made the world cursed and humans imperfect. So things like pain, unfairness, poverty, sickness, poor choices, all the bad stuff in this world, are a direct result of sin - sin damages relations with God, relations with other humans, causes death, pain and sickness, and has cursed the world itself.

I am like you. Sometimes I just wish God would wave a magic wand and make everything better. But I know He won't right away, because of free will, and I also know that eventually everything will be made right, in His time. It's hard to wait, and some days I'm really really looking forward to that day, but I know its coming.

This is part of my beliefs. Even though bad things happen to good people, God is still there. I have to look at the troubles in my life, own up to my own choices, and then allow that all of it, my responsibility or not, has actually brought me closer to Him, and grown me up in a lot of ways.

Like I said, my belief has a hope! And its that hope that gets me through the really bad, frustrating days. And thanks for reminding me of that hope, as I was having a blah day here!

Ultimately, it boils down to this. God loves you, and wants the best for you. And He promised to work all things for good for those who love Him. You can't see the greater plan yet, but have that hope. It's there. Just remember, He won't protect you entirely from the consequences of free will - yours and others. Just like you as a parent don't necessarily protect your child from everything they or their friends decide to do. However, He is always there to help you pick up the pieces, just like you're there for your kid(s).

Keep your chin up. It will work out.

Footprints has always been very special too me.

I have that hanging in my home.

Another thing to think about is that God can use how we react to the hard time to teach us and also others how to rely on him.

My first wife caused me lots of trouble during our divorce and I questioned "why" but in looking back on some of the things that happened it put me in contact with people I otherwise would not have talked to and should others what was really going on. Now years later others can look back on what happened and see the truth.

I too am going through trying times and questioning "why" and doing some soul searching. In this case it is putting my kids in a hard spot.

Only God knows "why" and sometimes we can look back on what happened and see why and other times not.

Read the New Testament about Paul and what he went through, or the Old Testament book of Job,
to see how God sometimes works.

Hope things get better for you.

I personally believe that we all have to go through enough challenges in life to make us who we are. I don't believe that as humans we get to know all the answers. I just trust that someday when my life is over I will get to understand the things that have happened.

quote:

Originally posted by missabb:
I personally believe that we all have to go through enough challenges in life to make us who we are. I don't believe that as humans we get to know all the answers. I just trust that someday when my life is over I will get to understand the things that have happened.

Wow that was beautiful. I dont know if its the pain meds or hormones. But it made me feel peaceful and happy! I know it wasnt ment for me but thank you.

One of my favourite authors once put it into perspective for me through one of his books. "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz.

One of the characters in the book, Stormy Llewellyn believes that there are 3 levels to life. this life is simply a practice run, for serving effectively in heaven in the second. The third is the rewards.

I'm not a religious person, so I'm not sure what I believe, but I do believe there is something after we leave this life.

Thank you all for your reply.

Yes, can't really explain everything that's happening now. May be later....Thanks for reminding me to wait...wait for things to get better and wait for answers to come.

I guess I just have to stay faithful no matter what.

alone,
I cant answer why....the answer given so far, are all great.

When things happen to me....AND THEY HAVE!!...I always think back to the story of Job.....and I've not suffered anything NEAR to what he did...and he remained faithful.

I dont think I'm better than Job,....and so....I dont think I deserve to have my life any Better than his was....So, I'm really just thankful it's not worse.

Yep, I whine...remember I started the Daily Whine thread....cause I can whine with the best of em....but, overall I have to believe God knows what he's doing, ...Cause most days, I sure don't.

Famous words by (I think) TD Jakes,
If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it"

It makes sense. We know that God's time is different from our time.
I have made a lot of mistakes but the one constant is that each thing that I have done has prepared me or assisted me in doing something else.
We continue to learn and grow from misfortune.

A good movie on the topic and a true story is "In pursuit of Happiness" with Will Smith and his son. I looked at it and was amazed at the lengths we as parents go through for our children, and what we do to make sure that they are unaware of our problems.

Keep parying. It sounds trite and cliche, but it is not in an attempt to make our problems go away but to help us deal with them.

"Keep parying. It sounds trite and cliche, but it is not in an attempt to make our problems go away but to help us deal with them.

That's keep PRAYING

quote:

Originally posted by Taylor's Mommy:

quote:

Originally posted by missabb:
I personally believe that we all have to go through enough challenges in life to make us who we are. I don't believe that as humans we get to know all the answers. I just trust that someday when my life is over I will get to understand the things that have happened.

Wow that was beautiful. I dont know if its the pain meds or hormones. But it made me feel peaceful and happy! I know it wasnt ment for me but thank you.

Thanks. This line of thought brings me comfort and if it does the same for you, that's great.

Every now and again I start to ask why, then i stop and think again.....I wake up every morn. my kids are well, they do not have down syndrome, they are not autistic they are well, happy healthy kids. I am alive and breathing for one more day. You hear the stories about kids being perfectly healthy and one day on the football field the fall down and die. One day a phsyco walks into their classroom and opens fire. I want to ask why all of the time, but really, so far i am the lucky one. Thats how i get through it. hope it helps.

i always look at God as a parent. I know most of you are parents here, so I guess you can relate. sometimes we subject our children to some amount of pain because we know it is for their good. we allow them to fall when they are still learning how to walk. we take them to the doctor to be vaccinated so they will avoid some diseases when they grow up. we take them to school even though they dont want to and they keep on begging to stay home. we spank them if they did something wrong. at that particular time, your child would not understand why you do such things or why you allow them to be hurt. But when they grow up, they begin to understand.

I think its the same thing with God. He sometimes allows us to experience pain in our lives because He knows it is necessary and it is for our own good. We may not understand it at this moment, but afterwards, when we look back in our life and see the bigger picture of why things happened, we begin to understand. Only then would we appreciate why God allowed us to go through such trials.