Small Bites

I've been stressed about a big decision recently. Wanting desperately to hear from God, I followed the 'recipe': 1)Soaked myself in God's Word. 2)Sought wise counsel. 3)Prayed my guts out.

I wasn't asking for much. Just needed a yes or no on what I saw as a nine year plan for my kids education. I felt God leading us in a certain direction for next year. The problem is, I wanted a guarantee on the next nine, not just one.

Not getting the answers I sought, I felt frustrated, aggrivated, and spiritually wasted. If the good Lord created the heavens and earth in just seven days, how hard could it be to give me a simple yes or no on our long-term plans?

Have you ever been in this place? Have you ever tried to get God to commit to a long-term plan? Ever tried coaxing Him to sign the dotted line? If you have then you probably experienced what I am going through.

Allow me to illustrate. For Ellie's second birthday I had baked a delicious layer cake covered in thick chocolate icing. Sprinkles decorated the top as it sat on our traditional birthday platter. I was a regular Willy Wonka, luring children with my sugary treats. Jack, age four at the time, was in the kitchen eyeing the cake and struggling with one of his first major temptations. I left the room for a few minutes and came back to see a bite taken smack out of the top of that cake! Jack was nowhere to be found. When I finally located him I asked him about the cake. He looked up at me with big blue eyes, chocolate icing outlining his little mouth, and said, "What cake?"

Now moms, you know if I hadn't come back into the kitchen when I did that little critter would've tried to eat the whole thing. Who can blame him, really? What one of us has not, at some point in time, tried to eat an entire cake in one sitting? I came close once and made myself entirely sick. (That's what we in the parenting world call a "natural consequence.")

The point is, we can't digest in one sitting all that God has planned. We're not meant to know all that God is up to all the time. He's got something cookin' and we're supposed to take it in one bite at a time. When God called Abraham to get up and move to a place God would show him. Abraham didn't ask for the nine year plan. Abraham (a brighter guy than me) simply packed a bag and followed - one day at a time.

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Notice God says, "I know the plans." I keep trying to rewrite that so it reads, "LISA knows the plans." God won't have it. He wants me to trust Him.

We can find peace in Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the chic who takes refuge in Him." If we want more of God and more of His plans without the tummy ache, we've got to remember to take it one small bite at a time.