Soul Kitchen

My week hasn't gone so well. Besides a visit from my friend who totally uplifted me and made me feel refreshed to taken on parenting again, I have played referee between all my children. I have one daughter with a hot temper who seems to like to take matters into her own hands and decide to "parent" with aggression instead of her words. She gets frustrated with me that I put her brother on time outs and thinks he deserves more than that for what he did to make her angry. As a result she will walk over to him and give him a punch or push. He doesn't want to let her get away with it so it goes back and forth. As a result of taking things into their own hands, there are tougher consequences.

As a parent it sure is frustrating to have things like this happen. We punish our children because we love them and want to teach them the difference between right and wrong. Our job is to direct and teach our children to make wise choices and that if we choose something else that there are consequences to our actions. We have rules as guidelines on how to live.

We as adults are actually no different than my daughter and son who take matters into their own hands. Our Father grieves and hurts when we choose to disobey and not trust. My daughter didn't trust that I would discipline accordingly and we do that to Jesus. How often do we wait and wait for answers and because we don't receive them in our timing, take things into our own hands? This leads to severe consequences in some cases and it takes a while for us to get back on track.

When we wait on the Lord we find how rewarding it is to trust. It's not easy when things are answered the way we aren't expecting or we have planned. God is perfect and his plans are perfect. Unlike us as parents, we make mistakes when directing our children. The consequences we place on the actions aren't always the right ones and sometimes we need to apologize for our actions. God doesn't make mistakes in his directions. We make the wrong choices and the mistakes.

Here's a couple verses of the many God put in His word to encourage us to wait on Him:

Psalm 25:5 (NIV)
"guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Don't take things into your own hands but wait for the rewards of God's answers. They might not always be how we want them to be but they're for our best. Just as a Mother and Father direct our children, allow God to direct your paths and trust in His timing. God says in Isaiah 40:31 that if you hope in the Lord you will renew your strength. You will soar on wings like eagles. You will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. Embrace Him and entrust your cares to Jesus.