How did I ever pass college statistics? Its intricate details of mathematical equations amazed and perplexed me. Its formulas and problems seemed so infinite, so mysterious, so distanced.
I am not a math person, and with much intimidation, I took the class twelve years ago, only to satisfy degree requirements. Today, I am still in awe of its challenges and gladly admit that only by God's grace did I overcome them and pass the course.
Only by His grace did I deal with the samplings, variables, and probabilities. God is good and merciful!
I respect disciplines that deal with numbers. I understand them little, but appreciate those who do and use their knowledge to help others.
I have very limited knowledge of algebraic equations, statistical probabilites, etc. But one thing I truly comprehend: Such equations and probabilites, their designs, and their designers do not compare to the wisdom, depth, ways, and mystery of God. He designed our world and its capabilites to yield to mathematical equations. God's ways pass all human understanding. His thoughts, His creation, transcend, perplex, and overwhelm the greatest statisticians.
God is infinite. God is the Master Designer of all good things. God is wisdom. God is holy. God is truth. And, God is personal.
Our Father God, with His personal application, has His Own way of showing us His ways. He has given us His holy word and the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us in every area of our lives. I often remind myself of the Psalmist's revelation that even our steps are planned by our heavenly Father. So, why should we ever glance from the Lord's especial prepared path or question His limitless, interpersonal wisdom? In our humanness, we all seem to have a weakness for stumbling through life's fog and wanting to find our own way.
"If I can just make this change in my life, things will be easier." "If I can somehow make this idea work, my relationships will be smoother." If I could just have God's blessings in this area of my life, I know I would be happy."
If. . . .If I had a hundred dollars for every time I tried on my own to improve my life and find a better way to do things, I would be a very rich woman by now; i.e., my own pride and ignorance have escorted me into the valley of pain many times, the sum of which has equaled a very accurate dose of humility and an unpleasant adjustment of my attitude.
God is so faithful! If you are a regular reader of my posts, you know I marvel at His faithfulness, and I hope not to sound like a broken record, but the patience and longsuffering of God simply amazes me, and I have a hard time withholding praise for the personal meaning of that truth!
God is faitfhul. He is the One Who speaks in your life, even when you have made that wrong turn, even when your wrong turn has sent you in circles or routed you into a ditch.
God is faithful. Through His loving Spirit, He speaks very intimately to us when we carelessly find ourselves on a dead end drive. He is the One Who interrupts our own well-meant, but delirious plans.
God is faithful. He is the fire sent from heaven that suddenly licks its flame into your dearest dreams and destroys the "I" in them all. He is the still, small voice that wrecks your direction and changes your life. He is the Author of your faith, Who at will turns your pages to write His own lines, so your story will end the way He wrote it ages ago.
Yes, precious one, God is faithful.
Were it not for the patience and longsuffering of God I would be in the middle of the Mojave by now without water, food, or shelter.
He knows my frame. My heavenly Father knows my good intentions, though very unworthy, have always been pursued with a dusty, fragile, imperfect fleshly temple that reasoned and dreamed its way into a dizzy drama.
As a young wife and mother of twenty-four years old, I reasoned my way into nursing school. "We need financial stability." "The ministry is so hard." "A nursing career will bring peace to our home." "I can help others and help my family at the same time."
I mused myself into a mess. I talked myself into near tragedy. I ignored the precious, still small voice that told me something was wrong with the whole idea and to let it go.
I enrolled in school. Little I did prospered. God refused to bless my plan. My little ones suffered. My husband suffered. I suffered. Yet, I persevered, being the stubborn girl I can be.
Finally, I awoke one morning violently ill. I vomited almost incessantly and was rushed to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with severe dehydration and dangerously low blood pressure.
It took one month of recovery, which required my withdrawal from school. I knew the Lord had had His way, and though repentent, I had a small fragment of hope of returning to my dream. The fleshly, selfish nature of Andrea still did not want to let go.
One afternoon, I sat on my sofa, questioning if I should go back. I started planning to call the school and reenter. My fleshly reasoning was hemming me back into the corner of disobedience.
Suddenly, in the midst of my daydreams, I heard my little sons crying out from our hallway. I ran as quickly as I could to find they had found my blood pressure cuff, and in playing with it, had it wrapped around Chris's arm. It was cutting off his circulation and was so tightly fixed and tangled I couldn't get it off. I cried out to the Lord for help, and with God's intervention, His wisdom, I was able to free Chris from the product of my own rebellious nature.
I held and clung to my children and thanked God for His deliverance. Later, I called the school. I spoke with the secretary in the nursing department and told her I had some books and equipment I wanted to sell. And I never once looked back.
Friends, we do not understand the reason behind God's voice. But we really do not need to understand. We only need obedience and trust in His will. His will is always His best.
Not His better. His best. What a perfect "selah moment!" Stop, and calmly think about it. Rest in that truth. Absorb the reality of your possibilities with God's best.
Your Designer, your Architect, your Provider holds your best in His hands.
Dear, precious one, if you are struggling today with your own dreams, if you know in your heart you are hearing God's voice, as the Apostle Paul did, when the Lord asked Paul why he insisted on going against the grain (Acts 26:14, The Message), then take a few quiet moments to drink in the Lord's unconditional love for you and contemplate how through that divine love He gives you all good things.
If through struggle and conflict you are weary from keeping a genuine divine dream alive, take heart of that same love, knowing the One who birthed in you His desire will most surely bring it to fulfillment. You have had realization in your spirit. And, God, Who planted the vision, will pour the oil and wine in His season.
Perhaps you have broken dreams. You heard God's voice in the past. His vision for your life has now become a road invisible, filled with fog. The enemy somehow foiled the Lord's plans for you through sin or discourgement or other devices. Satan uses those broken dreams to bring you to further discouragement and make you feel like a failure, but I assure you, dear friend, that the Lord is your healer and restorer. Jehovah, the sovereign Lord, can "put breath into you and make you live again!" (Ezekiel 37:5, NLT). Call His name! Forget your past! Forgive yourself! Have new hope!
Receive God's best for you today. He loves you so.
