{"id":4452,"date":"2018-03-18T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4452"},"modified":"2018-03-10T20:10:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T03:10:03","slug":"choose-not-to-look-for-the-quick-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4452","title":{"rendered":"Choose Not to Look for the Quick Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet Another Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A few years ago an acquaintance with a bothersome back problem was lamenting to me that God had not healed her.\u00a0 She wondered why.\u00a0 Then she named off those in the Bible God had healed and a few others she knew first hand.\u00a0 After all, she was a Christian who prayed for others.\u00a0 Why had God not taken away her pain after she had consistently beseeched him to do so?<\/p>\n

There were a couple of things I tried to gently point out to her. First, it\u2019s not wise to compare our situation to another\u2019s, since God works with each of us on an individual basis. Secondly, perhaps God does not exist to take away our pain.\u00a0 Healing is something God performs for His glory not our comfort.\u00a0 This was a totally foreign concept for her so she said, \u201cI\u2019ll have to think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, God is capable of easing our pain, but He doesn\u2019t always touch us with a magic wand where it hurts to make it better \u2013 like kissing a \u201cboo-boo.\u201d\u00a0 Although, He might sprinkle a little fairy dust of stamina, endurance, encouragement, perseverance, or peace of mind to help us make it through the hard times.<\/p>\n

Living in a \u201cquick-fix\u201d society, we would all prefer God to instantly, magically fix our circumstances.\u00a0 But God is not always in the \u201cquick-fix\u201d business. Sometimes He offers pieces of solutions \u2013 bit by bit.\u00a0 Maybe He will plant a seed coming from something we might read, a phrase we might hear, the lyrics of a song we\u2019re listening to, or something someone says off-handedly that starts us on the road to healing. We discover that perhaps God isn\u2019t as concerned about our circumstances as our reaction to them or what we can learn from them.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 God is not our big sugar daddy in the sky waiting to grant our every request. True, He is omnipotent and has the power to give us everything we want, but He isn\u2019t our personal Santa Claus anxious to fulfill everything on our wish list \u2013 even if we have been nice instead of naughty.\u00a0 That would not be good for us and God is interested only in our good.<\/p>\n

I often think of the following poem written by that famous author, Anonymous…<\/p>\n

I asked for strength,
\nAnd God gave me difficulties to make me strong.<\/p>\n

I asked for wisdom,
\nAnd God gave me problems to learn to solve.<\/p>\n

I asked for prosperity,
\nAnd God gave me brain and brawn to work.<\/p>\n

I asked for courage,
\nAnd God gave me dangers to overcome.<\/p>\n

I asked for patience,
\nAnd God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I asked for love,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And God gave me troubled people to help.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One final thought\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

God promised to supply our needs, not our wants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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