The Importance of Being Earnest: Ask, and thou shall receive?

One of the most frustrating things for me when I am sincerely asking for someone to pray for me is when that person says, "I will pray for God's will." To me it's like saying, "I will pray that the earth will spin." Well, of course, God's will will happen. Everything that happens on this earth is His will, the good, the bad, and the ugly! 

Don't get me wrong, the bible does say pray according to His will,

1 John 5:17 - And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

But notice it does not say, pray for his will, it says pray according to his will. There is a huge difference. He is asking for us to realize that when he says no, it's not in His will, but for goodness sakes ask, and ask fervently. 

I know semantics shamantics, but the difference is because there is power in prayer. Yes, His will will happen whether we pray, but He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to ask Him. He wants us to seek answers. He doesn't want us to blindly say, "God do your will." There is no emotion in that, there is no power. We need to sincerely and earnestly ask Him. 

Believe it or not, He does listen. So can we change His Will through prayer, begging, beseeching Him? No, we do not have that power, but He does. So will He change His will? Why yes! 

Look at 1 Samuel, when the people were asking for a King. It clearly states that God's will for His people, was to have God as their ruler, so having a human king did not fit into that mold. But God heard the people and he provided a king for them, with the exact specifications of what they wanted. What they learned is that it was not exactly what they wanted. 

This is probably not the best example, since it was God giving people a second rate future to what He had planned, but in the end God used all of this for His purpose.

Some people read such verses as, 

John 14:13 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

and misinterpret it to mean, He will say yes, if only we seek Him fully, have enough faith. Yet reread the verse carefully and notice the last part of that, "That the Father may be glorified in the Son." He answers yes, when He can be glorified. If saying yes will serve less eternal resilience than saying no, he will say no. His reason for answering yes to our prayers is for the eternal good of our souls, not the temporary comfort of our bodies.

Another slightly misunderstood verse is:

Matthew 17:17 - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

People often read this verse and not the rest of the chapter. If you read slightly further you can see that God does promise to give you what you ask for, but he's specific about what kind of things he is referring to: 

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

He's not saying, I will say yes to any prayer you ask, but he is saying, if you sincerely ask for help, for a need, he will answer it. It's not always going to be the answer you are hoping or expecting, but the answer He will give you is good. 

I know it's heart breaking when someone dies, especially when you've been praying earnestly for their healing, but we only understand our worldly lives, not the eternal nature of our souls. God will bless you for your prayers, He will give you the help you were seeking, He will give your loved one the help they were seeking, but for the good of our souls not our bodies. Sometimes, what is best for our eternal soul is not comfortable to our earthly bodies or our earthly hearts and desires. 

Another powerful verse that explains this, and is quite humbly is James 4:3:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Also God wants us to be persistent. Yes, he wants us to spend every waking moment asking him for our desires. He also honors persistence. 

Luke 18:1-8 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"

 He wants us to turn to Him with our concerns, our hopes, our dreams. He wants us to "pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Time after time in the bible He asks us to ask. And not just to ask, but be specific such as His call for those to pray over the sick and prayer to be forgiven for sin. 

James 5:14-15 - Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

Proverbs 28:13- He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but who so confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy.

We often worry first, pray second. I know I am guilty. Even when we initially go to God in prayer, we still try to fix the problem ourselves and not spending our time truly and earnestly in prayer. He wants us to turn to Him. Just as we want people to turn to us, talk to us, spend time with us, these are His desires. So my point is, we need to ask God, be specific, and not rely on platitudes and sayings when we address the sincere prayer requests of our loved ones, but truly search our heart and compassion and pray on their behalf sincerely.  

Prison Penalties and Mild Misdemeanors

Before I continue, I want you to know I have never done drugs nor do I condone the use of drugs, that being said over the past year I have witnessed injustices in the court system involving the punishment fitting the crime. Some are big, some are small, but all of them are a shame.

Jail is to punish someone for breaking minor laws, while prison is to protect the general public from those who do harm to others. That being said, I am not sure I agree with putting people in prison for the use of a drug, when there are no other victims involved. I guess when I read the quote from Marijuana Prison Statistics:

“According to the US Department of Justice, 30-40 percent of all current prison admissions involve crimes that have no direct or obvious victim other than the perpetrator,” the report shows. “The drug category constitutes the largest offense category, with 31 percent of all prison admissions resulting from such crimes.” Nearly a third of all prison admissions are from non violent drug offenses!

If a person is only harming themselves, then they need help, not punishment. I would say jail would be acceptable in many of these cases, required rehab a definite, but prison, no. I'm not talking about drug dealers, as they do have victims affect the lives of others. I also feel differently regarding those who cook meth inside their home where children live, since that does affect others, but for those who are doing things that are not affecting anyone but themselves, we as a society do not need to be protected from them. We need to help them. GIVE THEM REHAB, not prison time!

I guess I feel that our country is punishing the wrong people. This is probably more evident to me with certain cases I have seen, like this one where a man rapes a teenage girl four times threatening to kill her parents. His sentence was four years in a community corrections program, six years of parole, and gets to go back home to his three daughters, but don't worry he is on the sex registry list, cannot leave the state grounds, nor can he get served alcohol at a party. Being a for the most part non-drinker who rarely leaves the state, I don't find this much of a punishment at all. He deserves to go to prison.

Although more than that, in the past year I have gotten to know two mothers who have had men who have raped their children. Both men were father figures, both men were found guilty of rape, both men are free and their children are not yet out of grade school. Prison time did occur for one of them, briefly (three to four years), and the other got some jail time and parole. One of these men lives with children in his home. This doesn't seem right to me.

Now, I looked up the statistics, only 0.5 percent of people are in prison for marijuana possession only. Most drug related is for selling or trafficking. Although that seems low, that is still one out of two hundred prisoners. Since there are 2.5 million prisoners in our country that means 125,000 people are in prison and their only crime is marijuana posession. Marijuana is a plant, it grows naturally. Yes, they are breaking a law, and when we break laws their needs to be punishments, but prison? Prison is notorious for violence, rape, and other otrocities I don't want to think about. Should we really be putting someone in a place with murderers, rapists, just because they chose to smoke a naturally made product? It's against the law, so sure jail time, sure a fine, but I don't feel threatened by the man who chooses to smoke weed next door, so why on earth should he go to prison.

So yeah, this is my latest pet peeve. I had a more personal instance, being a foster parent where I felt the punishment did not fit the crime, but then this is not really the time and place to share about it. I guess, I am tired of hearing of people hurting children and getting petty fines or short-term jail stays, while people whose only crime is harming themselves get much steeper.

RANT OVER!

Merry Christmas!!!

2013 was a year of learning. We had one of our longest term foster care placements this year. She came to us at two months, left at eight months, and has been visiting us ever since. We learned that we can love someone as our own, survive the goodbye, and have room for yet another. Our sweet, funny foster child inherited her personality from her mother and was an absolute delight to have. After only a few meetings with the two of them, it was clear Little One belonged with her mom. Although we miss her terribly, we know she is where she should be.

Littles joined the competitive gymnastics team, learned to do a back handspring, and got two red ribbons at our her first meet. (Blue being highest, red being second highest.) Last school year, she made it to finals for her swim team. Only two girls in her age range had this honor, and she was one of them.

Kevin has continued doing well at work, learned that dogs are man’s best friend, cat’s are second-rate pets, and chopping wood is not for wusses. Okay, well maybe, I learned the last one, as he and I have spent several weekends chopping wood. Something he really enjoys, and well, let’s just say I enjoy spending time with my husband.

I too, have spent the year learning. Estoy aprendiendo español (I am learning Spanish), which uses way more brain power than I’d like to admit. I have gotten back into my writing, including starting a blog. And I am eagerly awaiting another foster care call. Not much enjoying the ups and downs of the foster care system, but much enjoying the children they bring to us.

Next year we are looking forward to meeting our new niece, who is due March 4th. We are not planning on expanding our pet hoarding endeavors, but not opposed to expanding our family with a foster child or two. Who knows where the Lord will lead us? Regardless of what the Lord wills, we feel blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Sincerely,

Kevin, Angela, Little Miss, Skeezix, Misty, Polly, and Tweeg. Miss too has had a year of learning by finishing third grade starting fourth. She ha

I Wish I Was George Bailey

It's a Wonderful Life will always be one of my all time favorite movies, because I hope that I am like George Bailey. I hope that the sacrifices I make, the decisions I make, the people I love have an impact.

I have to admit, many times I feel purposeless. I am a three time college dropout with no end in sight, no real career, I have big dreams, but chose a different path for reasons I couldn't control. Although I am so incredibly blessed with people in my life and happy ninety five percent of the time, every so often when I look in the mirror, I am discouraged by who looks back at me. Yet I will continue to trudge forward. Teaching my daughter how to be independent realizing that my goal is essentially to make my role no longer needed, preparing her for a world independent of me.

I am going to continue to try to make the best decisions possible. I'm going to try to keep loving people even when the love is not returned. I'm going to work every day trying to achieve my goals while still putting what is most important first. I'm going to forgive even when I'd rather be the one forgiven. I'm going to be the best me I can be, and when I fail, brush myself off and start all over. I'm going to try to always do what is right, not what is easy. I'm going to hope that my existence on this earth is more of a blessing than a curse.

I guess I identify with George Bailey. He wanted a different life, but chose the one he had because he felt it was the right thing to do. It made a world of a difference. I know my life has not saved an entire town from the corrupt hands of a ruthless man, I have not saved a person's life, heck I have not even created life, but I do hope that my existence was important enough that at the end of my life, God will be glad I was here. Yet, there are those brief moments when that person in the mirror looks back at me and I think, "maybe I chose the wrong path."

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

I have been spending the past week in utter anticipation of what the future holds. To be more specific, what Tuesday, December 3, 2013 holds.

I was called last Wednesday with a potential foster child. I was told I might be picking the child up that day. My first reaction was calm, unexpectant, and a little removed from the situation. Five minutes later she said, "Change of plans, we will call you on Tuesday."

So I wait. Thursday was fun, my mind was busy with many loved ones. Friday was great, I was busy with babysitting and hanging out with my daughter. Saturday I had the excitement of the Sound of Music to look forward to, which by the way was awesome!!!

Then Sunday came, and I felt sick, spent most the day in bed.

Then today came.

Theoretically, I had a busy day, so my mind should have been preoccupied. I began the day with chores, then driving to a funeral. Up to this point, I was fine, thinking and praying for the beautiful lady who passed away.

I drove home, and then my thoughts shifted to Tuesday. I am supposed to get a call one way or another. It didn't matter if I was in class, talking on the phone with friends, spending time with 15 girl scouts, my mind was wandering. What to expect, what to expect, what to expect? So today, I wait. I will go to bed in a few minutes. Fortunately, I do not stay awake when I am anxious, I fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow, but when I awake in the morning, I will be by my phone.

How will I feel if they say, no? Crushed, but not broken.

How will I feel if they say, yes? A mix of a million emotions, unsure what to expect.

So, will it happen? Only the Lord knows.