Our daughter is 20 months old and we are weaning her off of the pacifier; it’s been a difficult few weeks. One night was especially rough and she had been crying for over an hour with no consolation. I was getting so frustrated, trying to explain to her that she is getting older and it’s time to let go of the pacifier. She’s getting teeth that we need to protect and we want to keep her from getting infections. Explaining that to a toddler is impossible. They just know that they want something and you’re not giving in.
I really felt the LORD saying to me “Jess, this is how I feel about you sometimes. I know what is best for you. I have a plan for you. But you don’t see that. You just want what you want; you have to trust me and let go.” There are many things in our lives that we really want and we beg and plead with GOD for. It can be a new job or a new house, maybe a relationship that we want to hold onto or it could be a habit or almost anything, really, that we just have to have. We don’t understand why a GOD that is so wonderful and loves us so much would ever tell us “No”. Why would HE deny us???
As parents, we often get pushed to the edge and finally give up: giving the toy or the pacifier and say “Here! Here’s the toy or the pacifier or whatever you want. Now just be quiet!” But what does that teach them? How does that help them learn? How does that benefit us in any way? GOD loves us so much and wants to bless us. HE wants to teach us patience and faith and if HE always gave us everything we wanted, would we really need HIM anymore?
GOD loves us, HE wants to bless us. Just like we love our children and want to bless them and make them happy and see them laugh and smile. GOD wants to give us the desires of our hearts but often the timing is just off. We never know if we are meant to be in a specific job for some reason, or maybe the car that we want so badly is actually a lemon that will cause us more grief in the end. Or maybe that relationship will end up leading us away from GOD. We don’t always see the whole picture and that’s why we MUST trust HIM. Maybe HE is not going to heal our friend who was battling cancer so bravely. Maybe HE planned to take her home to finally end her pain and maybe her nurses will come to know Christ through this. We don’t know why HE may not be answering right away but if we just stop crying and listen for a moment, maybe we’ll hear HIM.
So that night, after fighting endlessly and trying to explain repeatedly that she would not get her “paci” I finally changed my approach and told her that I loved her so much and asked her to trust me. I asked her to let me help her become a big girl and just kept saying that I loved her, over and over. Within a few minutes she was asleep. If we can stop our fussing and stop our crying long enough to listen, maybe we’ll get a glimpse of the big picture. Maybe we can trust HIM enough and we'll finally see all that HE has for us and how wonderfully HE really does love us.
