Can you think of a time that God’s told you something specific is going to happen? You’re just positive that He told you this certain thing – and even confirmed it at many different times and in many different ways?
But then you wait, and you wait, and … you … wait … and nothing happens.
As I wrote about in my post Pulling Up My Faith Boot-Straps, there were many things that caused me to believe that the Lord had told me that someday our special needs son Jeffrey would be healed from his cerebral palsy and would no longer need his wheelchair.
But time dragged on, and nothing was happening. Still – I must hold onto my faith!!!
However a real bummer came while Jeffrey was still in elementary school and all his school and private therapists started stating that they felt it would be a good idea for us to invest in a power wheelchair for Jeffrey which would help him to feel more independent.
Just think! Then Jeffrey wouldn’t have to wait for someone to come alongside him to push him up and down the hallways, as well as out on the playground. Although Jeffrey was able to wheel himself for short distances in his manual chair, it was just too far for him to independently push himself around at the school.
There was just one problem: Gary and I didn’t want to! Why? Because we were certain that if we were to get one for him, it would dissuade him from continuing to work hard to get his legs and body stronger with the goal in mind of walking independently.
We shared our fears with the therapists. What were their thoughts? Well, of course it was certainly possible that Jeffrey would just give up on trying, but the bottom line was that Jeffrey was still only able to take a step or two on his own while using a walker. It was just too hard for him to hold himself upright with his lopsided body – and he was growing taller and taller which was making it even more difficult!
Gary and I wrestled and prayed a lot about this. One of my main worries was that I was giving up on what the Lord had told me about Jeffrey being healed totally and completely one day. Oy-Vey!
However we finally realized that we really needed to take this step. After all, is God not God? Could He not strengthen Jeffrey even if he was in a power wheelchair over a manual one? Oh brother!
Humble-pie set in, as Jeffrey was just gleaming ear-to-ear once he got his new chair and learned how to drive it. He was now so independent! Why had we been fighting this so hard? Perhaps we were not the total experts on Jeffrey that we had thought we were…
For those of you reading this who are sitting there going, Yeah, I’ve certainly made some dumb decisions before, take heart!
It’s so easy to put God in a box, isn’t it? Think of Abraham and Sarah. The Lord had told Abram (i.e. Abraham) that even though he was definitely no spring-chicken, he was still going to have a son coming from his own body. And Abram believed him (Gen. 15:4-6).
Yet time went on, and his wife Sarai (i.e. Sarah) had been unable to get pregnant, so she told Abram to sleep with her maidservant Hagar, who then conceived. (Scripture doesn’t say that Abram argued with this plan!) So my question is: Did Abram think that this was perhaps how God had planned it after all? To sleep with another woman rather than his wife?
But here’s where I need to point out that we cannot foil God’s plans. Because even though the whole pregnancy-thing with Hagar turned out to be a big mess, God is God, and in His infinite mercy again came to Abram – when he was 99 years old – and confirmed that his true heir would not come from Hagar’s womb, but from Sarai herself – who was about 90 years-old (Gen. 17:1-19)!
And, of course, it happened just as God said it would (Gen. 21:1-2).
You know, sometimes our puny little minds just can’t wrap ourselves around just how great and mighty our Lord is. No, as of this writing, Jeffrey still has not been healed. Yet I still believe he will be someday.
So don’t give up – no matter what. If God’s told you that He’s going to do something – and He’s confirmed it in many different ways – He’s going to do it! In the meantime, we must hang on and be patient, which of course is one of the hardest things for most of us to do.
The God Of All Comfort 