What I learned is that every person should allow God time and space to work because God knows exactly what we need. I will make this more personal. I needed to allow God time and space to work on my life and God knew exactly what I needed.
My frustratingly wonderful sabbatical experience taught me:
God knows exactly what we need. I had expected a tranquil sabbatical instead it was turbulent. If I had planned my sabbatical I would have taken naps, read good books, ate with friends and spent a lot of quiet time with God. However in looking back on my time away that would have been very unproductive for my spiritual growth. I needed to be confronted with my own shortcommings and attitudes that needed to be put under Holy sandpaper. If my 6 weeks had been a paradise, I would have never learned the lessons that frustration can teach. I learned that I can trust God with my life and difficult times can be wonderful times.
God creates enviornments where we can grow. The questions that have been ringing in my mind over the last 6 weeks are: Do I believe God to be a good Master? Do I really trust God with my life? Do I believe that the plans God has for me are the best plans and the quickest pathway to joy and peace? Can I experience God even when I am pushed to my limit? Unless we are stressed we will never find out the answer. My son and I climbed Mt. Beirstadt/a Colorado 14er. It was a 1.5 miles of a pretty hike and then 1.5 miles straight up into thin air. I can walk on level ground every day, but every step of the ascent I learned about diligence, toughness and endurance. God creates the life environments we need, all I need to do is enter them as a learner with the desire to grow.
Growth occurs in the midst of storms, not in the midst of tranquility. Sometimes it takes a lot of aggitation to get to the level of our soul and our motives. We are very good at masking our 'true self.' Our family drove 13 hours straight (mostly because I am too cheap to spring for a hotel) from Colorado to Texas on our last day of sabbatical. We arrived home early enough to enjoy th evening only to find our air condition out and kitchen sink backed up. It was really comical, except it was near 100 degrees out. We did not laugh and enjoy the moment. We called a friend and an A/C guy and plumber and made plans to make it through a hot night. However none of my kids complained, as tired as I was I did not gripe, my wife remained positive. The storms of the sabbatical reached my families inner life. I observed a depth of growth in my wife and kids that only storms and an open heart can produce. I guess you can tell I am very proud of my family at this moment.
In my daily devotional I recently read from the pen of Charles Spurgeon:
Among the huge Atlantic-waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the littleness of man. Thank God, then, if you have been led by a rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of God’s greatness and lovingkindness. Your troubles have enriched you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as he did his servant Moses, that you might behold his glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have been capacitated for the outshinings of his glory in his wonderful dealings with you.
Lord help us to take the good and bad head on, hand-in-hand with you. And develop depth and strength to our inner lives. Amen
Struggles can make you bitter or better? How have you grown through difficult times?
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