Please! Don't Put God in a Box!

I've contemplated whether I should do this post or not, but I think I can do it without being too critical of others.  In fact, that is my intent with this post - to not be critical, but to point out what I think is a flaw in a certain train of thinking.

Here goes -

A lady (and a very fine one, indeed, who is a God-fearing, loving person) stated that she didn't immunize her children, because 'you need to trust in God.'  Maybe I'm assuming too much here, but I take the 'trust in God' part to mean that one trusts the Lord to either prevent your children from receiving childhood illness (instead of vaccination) or you 'trust in God' that if your children do acquire said childhood diseases, then you know He will protect them and His will be done.  For some reason though I get the impression that it's more the former than the latter.

On that note - I must say that I have a very strong opinion about such sayings and cliche-type expressions. Why?  Well, let's see, it kind of reminds me of the Quiverfill movement.  'Trust in God' and He'll be sure to give you the amount of children that you should be having.  Well, unfortunately, I feel there is a bit of human interference with that kind of thinking, basically, because men and women share intimacy (which is the human element in all this), then the woman may find that she's 'with child.'  So, my thoughts are this, "Did God tell you to have relations with your husband last night?"  He might have.  "Did God tell you not to use any type of protection while engaging in said activity?"  He might have.  But to me - well, it sounds so much more like 'testing God' than worshiping Him.  The human life is a precious thing.  We do have a 'choice' to have or not to have children. We 'know' that engaging in marital bliss can result in a pregnancy, so we do have a 'choice.'  So, therefore, when people 'give it to God' I often wonder if they do.  Do they pray before having relations with their husbands to see if God approves?  I doubt it, but if you are giving it to God, then you MUST need to consult Him before taking action with your hubby. KWIM?

Anyway, back to the lady who stated that she doesn't immunize her children, because she's given it to God.  Well, apparently, a childhood disease is making the rounds throughout her community, and she refuses to 'go out' with the kids, because she doesn't want them to catch it.  Okay, where is the trust in the Lord there?  I really don't see it!  Do you?

I mean, if you trust in the Lord to the point that you don't inoculate, but you don't trust Him to prevent your children from getting the diseases - well, where's the trust?  Or perhaps you need to trust in the Lord that if your children get the disease, He'll take care of them.  Or on the other hand, you may need to trust in the Lord that if he doesn't make them well, it just might be His will.  I know that sounds cold and harsh, but truly, that's the main reason I find this kind of thinking dangerous.

The good Lord doesn't want to do us harm!  He wants us to come and surrender our life to Him fully - not just trust Him on one aspect, and doubt the rest.

Personally, I had my son vaccinated.  I don't like to think that I have put something before the Lord to say, "There you go, God, here's this situation in my life, and I'm going to find out how You deal with it."  That's what I mean by 'testing God.'  I'm not going to ignore the great medical advances in the world today to say, "God, I choose not to vaccinate my children, so therefore, You must take care of them."  I just don't think that's what God wants us to do.

I feel the Lord speaks to us through His word.  Have you ever been in a quandary about what to do with a certain issue in your life?  You search the Scripture for answer, and you just come up dry.  You pray that God will show you in which direction you should move in.  Then next thing you know, when you least expect it, you pick up your Bible, start reading without even considering the issue that you've been facing, and the Lord 'speaks to you through His word.'  Suddenly, the tears well up in your eyes, you bow down on your knees, and thank God for showing you what you need to do.   

I think the Lord has given the medical field great advances down through the generations, and He doesn't mind if we use them.  Personally, I also think this fine lady has children that have major health issues, and she doesn't want them to catch that bad, old disease.  That's fine!  But to say you don't inoculate your children, because you 'trust in the Lord', then I think you need to also consider 'trusting in Him' to let His will be done.  Which, I'll say it again, this smacks to me too much like 'testing the Lord.'

When my mother was in the hospital with pneumonia, and we thought we might lose her - I'll be very honest with you all in telling you that whenever someone coughed at work, I sprayed the Lysol.  Whenever anyone came near me to talk, then told me, "I've been feverish all night."  I sprayed Lysol.  Then, I stopped myself.  I don't think the Lord wanted me to carry another illness to my mother in the hospital that she most likely would have succumbed to, but I wasn't really thinking of that.  I was thinking of Mom, not the Lord - and well, that's where I think I got into a bit of a thought process about "How do I show that I trust the Lord?"  Once I examined the situation, I realized that indeed, I wasn't putting my faith in God, I was putting my faith in a can of Lysol.

Unfortunately, I often see very well-meaning people put God in a box.  They start to shove our Big, Awesome, Holy God down, down, down into a little tiny box, where they never really get to experience the loving-kindness that only He is so capable of showing.

Sometimes, we go through some very difficult times in our life.  Believe me, I've been through a few myself.  I often find when I totally surrender myself to the Lord a comfort and peace come over me that I've never felt before.  I've even experienced that comfort and peace when the most awful things have happened, and someone I love passes on.

So, as I said, during the everyday issues of our life, as mundane as they may seem, I really think we need to keep our focus on the Lord.  We need to trust that He will take care of us no matter what it is that we have to face.  As my very dear friend, Ella, always says, "God is faithful."  Amen, sister!

Please Don't Panic!

The woes that our country is facing due to its recent economic situation have me scratching my head at times.

I understand that our country is facing hard times and those hard times are not going to be overcome overnight.

I understand that many of us might need to tighten our belts a bit more and make do with what we have, rather than what we would like to have.

I understand that life is short and that people want to live life to its fullest too.

But some of the recent discussions have me a bit befuddled. I'd like to state that I'm not an economic genius by any means, I'm not even an economic genius wannabe either.

Hubby and I were watching the Dave Ramsey show the other night on the Fox Business channel.


If you're not familiar with Dave Ramsey's show, callers phone in to get advice for their particular situation from Dave. The callers usually give Dave a 30-second summary of what their financial woe is and Dave helps them to figure out what they can do to make their situation better.

A lady phoned in to talk to Dave and you could hear the rising panic in her voice. She explained that she and her husband purchased their existing home, but found out recently that their home was no longer worth what they paid for it. She was shrilly explaining that they didn't know if they should talk to the bank and get a short loan. A short loan is where the bank will agree to take less money than is owed to pay off the mortgage for the home. (When we lived in California years ago, the housing market had become falsely inflated and many banks were opting for short loan payoffs vs. having owners walk away into foreclosure.) That way the bank can get some money instead of no money.

She thought maybe they should get a short loan, or maybe go bankrupt and walk away. She was truly panicked.

Dave asked her if the house was an adequate size for her family. She said that it was. He asked her if they could still afford the mortgage payment or was it out of reach for them each month. She said they had no problem paying the existing mortgage. He asked her if they hated the home. She said that they liked the home rather well. He asked her, "Why do you want to get rid of this home?"

She stated that they felt trapped. They owed more in the mortgage than the home was worth. He asked her if that were not the case, would she and her husband have decided, down the road, that they might like to sell the home. She said that they liked the home and would have stayed in the home for quite some time or maybe even forever, if this hadn't happened.

Okay, do you see my point yet?

Why would this lady think she needed to sell her home?

Well, Dave advised her to 'sit tight' and 'DO NOT PANIC' and wait out this situation. If you like the home and you can afford the home, stay in it and wait this thing out.

I think the most important words he said was, 'DO NOT PANIC.'

Stone Throwers

Have you ever noticed that the biggest stone throwers are the most easily taken back when one gets thrown back at them?

Well, I notice this all the time.

I've known people who very glibly can toss that stone at someone, but can't take it when someone tosses it back at them.

Personally, that's why I usually don't throw stones on purpose. I don't like to judge people and their actions, because I really don't live in their skin. I don't have their life experiences to dictate their reactions to situations.

For example, the big bully at school who huffs and puffs and wants to blow everyone over....well, 98% of the time, I think they are usually bullied at home. I saw a lot of this while my son was growing up and attending the local high school. The biggest talker, bragger, stone thrower was usually going home and getting beaten up physically or at least emotionally every time they stepped foot into what should have been their haven, their home. So, these poor kids strike back by being the 'big man (or woman) on school grounds.' They fight their way through every waking moment of their day. They often don't act like they care about anything, except intimidating everyone.

Hmmmm, so that's why I think sometimes the big stone throwers get a huge surprise when someone fights back and tosses that stone right back at them. They've never tried to throw it back at their abusers, they try to find someone whose intimidated by them and they start 'flinging.' So, when someone dares to throw a stone their way, they have all they can do to contain themselves. They feel the hurt that they've inflicted upon others, but I don't think it cures them of it. In fact, I think it makes them throw bigger stones. Afterall, the only thing these poor people really know is how to 'fight' their way through their day. They haven't been taught anything else, so they have no good examples how to 'correct' their behavior.

So generation after generation of bullies raise yet another generation of bullies.

Sad, isn't it?