He Knows!

Often times I think I know exactly what I need.  Often times I think I know exactly how things should happen!  Often times I like to be in control. Often times I like to think that I know what is best.  But often times I am wrong!

A mother of a couple of my teens is going through a really hard time right now.  She just lost somebody really close to her.  As I was talking with her this week I told her to let me know if there was anything that I could do for her or her kids.  She asked me to be praying for her to have strength.

I definitely wanted to honor that request and pray for God to provide her with strength!  She texted me right before I went running, so as I was running she was heavy on my heart and in my prayers.  While I run my mind wanders.  I have music playing but I rarely listen to the songs.  A couple of weeks ago it took me two miles before I realized that I had been listening to the same song on repeat the whole time.  So as my mind was wandering and as I was praying for my friend God reminded me of something that I often forget!

He Knows!  As I prayed for God to fill her with strength He reminded me that He knows what she truly needs.  She may need strength or she may need peace or she may need support.  He knows!  Whatever it is that she truly needs He knows!  And He gives us what He Knows we need.

This whole conversation came up again only about an hour after that with my sister-in-law Erin.  My brother and sister-in-law have been planning on leaving for El Salvador in less than a month to serve with the Peace Corps for 27 months.  Last Friday was Erin's last day as a 6th grade science teacher.  She said goodbye to her students and gave up her job that she loved knowing that she was going to be moving to El Salvador in just a few weeks.  That same day Braden and Erin found out that the Peace Corps had cancelled their assignment in El Salvador because of safety concerns.  All the plans that Braden and Erin had been making for the past few months just got chunked out the window.  I can only imagine how overwhelming of a day that had to be.

As I talked with Erin on the phone yesterday because it was her birthday she said, "God is teaching me patience.  Your brother has plenty of it, but God is teaching me to be patient."  I told her that I completely understand!  There have been times in my life when I thought I knew exactly how things ought to go and what I needed and my frustration with God grew as He wasn't giving me exactly what I thought was best.  I didn't understand why He wasn't doing something.  Little did I know He was doing a whole lot of something!

The funny thing about that is at the end God always gives me something better than what I thought I really needed.  He knows better than I do exactly what I need.  I trust that He knows better than Braden and Erin exactly what they need as well.  It's not that He doesn't have the power to give us exactly what we want,  it's that He loves us so much that He doesn't want to give us anything less than the best!  I trust that my God knows what we need better than we do.

My prayers often focus on things that I think I need.  But I find so much comfort in knowing that I serve a God whose power is limitless and knows me so much better than I could ever know myself.  He knows my past, my present, and my future.  There is no one more qualified in knowing my needs than my Creator Himself!  May we remember that He knows our needs and that He is the God who provides!  May we remember that His desire is for us to desire Him!  He is God!  He is Good!  He Knows!!!