If I remember one thing about my daddy, it was that he never gave advice until he was asked. I on the other had have never had that quality. I just kind of spit out what I am thinking even before I am asked. Thus, the reason I have this blog page. I lost my daddy when I was just 23 yrs old. He died of congestive heart failure right in front of me, as Jeff gave him CPR. “Alesa come quick your daddy is dying” I heard for the other room as my mom called out.

As hard as it was to stand there and watch my daddy die, It was actually an answer to prayer. You see being a preacher’s kid and living in 5 different states in 18 yrs, and attending 9 different  schools in 12 yrs. My parents were not around when their parents were rushed to the hospital before they passed away. I can remember time after time, my family would get a phone call wherever we were living at the time “ Hurry come quick, we don’t know how much time Mom or Dad has” that call would come from one of my Aunts or Uncles, concerned with one of their parents and every time my family would rush around and drive as fast as we could praying all the way there that they would still be alive by the time we got there.

I don’t recall, when or even where I said it and I am sure it probably wasn’t an audible request, but I know I said it in my heart “God don’t let me have to live so far away from my parents that when their time comes to meet you, I have to get the call that says, Hurry come quick!”  

And so God granted me that request with both my parents I was there when they took their last breath. But He hasn’t always granted me every request I have asked for. You see as Jeff was doing CPR on my father I was calling 911, the ambulance came and the EMT’s worked on daddy to do everything they could to keep him alive, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital. I can remember, they allowed us time to go in and see him once after they had called it, and I can remember walking up to Daddy as his lifeless body laid on the table in the ER and in the same way I called out to God and said “Please don’t let me get that Hurry come quick, phone call”. I called out to God and said “I know you can raise him from the dead!, In the name of Jesus rise up be healed!”  

But that time, God didn’t answer my request. What makes God answer one request and not another?  Why does someone else get what they want and we can pray for the same thing and never get it? This is the questions that plagues many of us. It is the question that has been asked a million times and the only answer anyone can really say is “I don’t know” But I do know, that…….

God is the all knowing and all seeing God. He spoke the world into existence and if He can do that, then I think we should follow what He says because He has the right to do just about anything He wants

Romans Chapter 5 tells us that  ”because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”

Now don’t misunderstand what the verse is saying here God is not sitting up there with a big sledge hammer waiting till you ask for something just so he can jerk it out of your hand, saying “No! Hahaha!” In a big hideous voice laughing at the authority He has over you because He wants to teach us a lesson.

No, the bible says that “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” it also tells us that “All things work together for good to those who love God,  according to the plan He has for us”

So I don’t know why my dad didn’t sit right up when I called on God to raise him from the dead. I mean I believed, I trust God’s word is true and it happened in the bible it can happen again. Does it mean, I didn’t believe enough, does it mean I didn’t have enough faith, NO! It means God had a better plan. The same way my grandchildren come to my home today and want to eat all the candy, Ice cream, cake and pop I will feed them. But, I know that it is not the best for them, because they will wake up with a stomach ache or throwing up, so I have to be the mean Mimi and say “No!”. Now do you really think I am being mean by telling my grandchild she can’t have her 4th piece of cake or 12th can of pop?  No, you would say I had already indulged them enough, you would say I know best because those things aren’t good for them. It is the same with God, He knows best He can see the future and wants what is best for us.  

So why can’t we trust the creator of the universe, the man who predicted His death burial and resurrection with what we ask Him? We can, we just have to realize that, when things don’t happen the way we plan, we know it is just a testing of our faith. We may have a plan for our lives, but God has a bigger plan and so when it feels like we are suffering because we didn’t get what we wanted.  We need to realize if we will just trust God and persevere our perseverance will produce character and out of our character we will gain hope in God and God won’t put us to shame, but He will turn what looked like something going wrong, to something better than we could of ever dreamed of,  if we will not lose hope and only persevere.

You know that is the kind of character that our Heavenly Father is looking for in His people. He is looking for a person that will trust Him. Because a friend trusts. We need to see this character in men today because we are living in a generation where many kids don’t have a father, and often a mother they can rely on.

It use to be when I would tell people about Jesus I could relate it to a loving father or mother, or even grandparent that had taken care of that child but today with the destruction of the family I am not sure there is a general example that we can compare Christ too,  and you know what? Maybe that is why people don’t trust God like we need to, its because we don’t have that example in front of us anymore.

So I don’t know what kind of family you come from, but on this Father’s Day Weekend. It doesn’t matter if your dad was around or not, it doesn’t matter if you have never met your dad, and it doesn’t matter if your daddy is in heaven like mine is. Because we have a Heavenly Father that said He would be the Father to the Fatherless. So trust in Him this week. Even if He has to tell you no. Just remember, He knows best and He loves you enough to keep you from harm even when we don’t understand.