Faith Crisis

"....Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" 

-Job 2:10b

Almost 30 years ago I had a faith crisis.  Something I'd wanted very badly did not come to pass and I didn't understand why I would be denied it.  I spoke up in Bible Study one day about how I was feeling.  Afterwards my pastor approached me and asked if I wanted to talk about it.  We met a few more times and eventually my faith in God's goodness was strengthen as my pastor shared scriptures with me.  Through the years my loss would come to mind from time to time and I'd feel a deep sadness about it.   Many years later when I came upon this little angel wiping a tear from her face I was certain that God was telling me that He was crying with me.  What I wanted was not meant to be, but knowing that God cared I no longer needed to understand why.  The sadness has been healed.  I placed the little angel where I could see it from my kitchen sink window--my reminder that God cares.

Job's wife tried to encourage him to "curse God and die" when trouble upon trouble visited him.  His response:  "You are talking like a foolish woman  Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"  Eventually all was restored to him many times over.  For me, God has recently given me what I wanted, only in a different way than I'd planned.  In His wisdom He knew His way was the best for me and now that I am older and wiser I can see that.

I am grateful that I learned to know without a doubt that God loves me and cares about my struggles.