When God Says No

“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” Psalm 73:26

Let me just confess right here and now that I am not hardwired to behave. One of my most favorite jewelry pieces is a beautiful silver medallion that has the words “Women who behave rarely make history” engraved on it. While this may be a perfectly acceptable way to be in an earthly sense, it certainly can get you into trouble in your walk with God. And while I am at it, let me assure you that it can get you into a lot of hot water in your day to day life as well.

I have a tendency to show up to my prayer time with my Heavenly Father with all my notes, charts, and graphs on how, why, and when I expect my life to go. I merely submit it for His approval and often don’t even wait until He speaks before I am off and running. And, when the day ends and my plans are at the bottom of the great Eternal shredder, I get more than a little discouraged. I mean really! Did I not show Him how it was all going to work out, especially in my favor?

I started out the year with the best laid plans. A cross country trip with my granddaughter, a visit to the east coast grandchildren, a couple of romantic getaways with sweetheart, and a couple of girls weekends with my BFF’s (best friends forever for you non texters out there!) It was going to be a year to remember. Even my bank account reflected the blessings of God in my carefully laid out savings for each activity. Tithing? Check. Missions? Check. Ministry? Check. Savings? Check. Emergency fund? Check.

The problem with my plans seemed to be my lack of taking into account that God said no. Not only did He say no, He said it in such a way that I could hardly misunderstand Him. I had surgery a month ago. A surgery that was supposed to clear up my sinus issues and make me able to breathe. Thirty nine years ago I was thrown from my horse and suffered a broken collarbone and a busted nose. Add a couple of mishaps with basketballs at my summer amusement park job and one unfortunate incident with a dog knocking me out cold when he jumped up to greet me and let’s just say that my nose was in pretty bad shape.

Fast forward to a deep seated infection from the surgery, sweetheart breaking his elbow when someone left a tow bar in the wrong place on the flight line, and granddaughter being grounded for eternity. Suddenly all the best laid plans were in that eternal shredder. Stay home. Rest. Stay home. Rest. Stay home. Rest. If He had taken out an airplane skywriter and painted across the Heavens He could not have been any clearer. But did sweetheart and I listen? Of course we did….NOT. We were bound and determined that we were going to at least be able to enjoy a little of our forced time off work (12 weeks for him!!!)

So off we went to a tiny campground about two hours from here. Just a little R & R. A beautiful place by the river with a playground for silly dog, lots of walking trails under towering pecan trees, and quiet, quiet, quiet. We used the excuse of next to oldest son’s birthday to cover our reasons why we had to get out of the house. Hotels were booked up and we have our own mobile hotel room so why not take the camper and make a really nice couple of days out of the entire weekend.

We arrived at eight pm, had dinner with son, and were in bed by ten. At eleven pm God showed up and pointed out that we are not in charge. Not then, not now, not ever. As you can see from the pictures the Beast was singled out for attack by a vicious pecan tree. Two hundred sites in the RV park. Not one tree, limb, or even branch on anyone else’s camper. Quarter size hail, sixty mph winds, the worst storm in the area for years. Not one tree, not one limb, not one branch. Except on us. Do you think that we got the message? Absolutely! We are home, we are still, we are resting. We won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Even a trip to the mailbox is preapproved. Just saying.

Dearest Father God, we know that You and You alone are in charge. We know that You see the journey as well as the destination. We know that You are the one who set the Heavens into motion and the stars in the sky. You gave us the Holy Spirit for a reason. So that we might have the whispers of Your desires for us right in the middle of our soul. Remind us daily of Your plans for us. Show us through Your Word just how we should move forward. Let us sit at Your feet every morning with no plans, no schemes, no scheme of man and let us listen as You guide us through our day. In the Name of Christ Jesus, Amen

copyright©Michelle Welch, team member of Breath Of Life Women's Ministries
photography by Michelle Welch, all rights reserved
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.