Out of my Hands

I was laying in bed this morning awake because the sun was too bright as it peeked through the blinds that must always stay closed. You see for the past two and half, almost three weeks, I have been living in the ghetto, hood or whatever you want to call it. Basically it is a sketchy place. So the blinds forever remain closed yet the sun peeks inside invading the coma of sleep. I suppose I could choose to be upset and at first I was. I wanted to be asleep still. However, I knew that for the time being that option was over. I also came to the realization that there are so many things in life that are out of my hands. I cannot control them. I can only choose how to deal with them. I know so many times that I choose to deal with them the incorrect way. But, by the grace of God I keep getting second chances, or thirds, fourths and sometimes even twentieth chances.
So, I got up and had some quiet time in the lounge and I realized that I had not written in my blog for a while. I guess a message that sticks with me is from the lesson I taught to the preteen girls this past week. We have been doing a study on Bible women with help from John MacArthur's book Twelve Extraordinary Women. The first week Karenie talked about Eve. So this week was my turn to talk and it was on Sarah. You know I had thought about Sarah before and remember learning about her growing up in Sunday School. However, as is the beauty of growing in the Lord, new things were revealed each time I read the Scripture. So for those of you who are not as familiar with Sarah, she was the wife of Abraham who is now known as the father of the Israel nation. He is one of the most highly recognized Biblical figures. However where in chapter eleven of Genesis verse twenty nine it states Abraham marriage to Sarah. Immediately after that in verse thirty it says Sarah could not have children. How terrible for that to be the first piece of information that is given about you - something that you could not do! However in chapter twelve God gives his promise to Abraham that he is going to be made into a great nation. First the Bible says Sarah couldn't have children, then it says but I am going to make a great nation from you. "Your wife can't have kids, just wait I am going to give you so many descendants that you can make a whole country!" So the story rocks on for a little while and Sarah gets impatient. She knows what her husband said God said but God didn't tell her. So, Sarah has this brilliant idea that she can give her servant to her husband and then they are going to make a family that way. So Abraham agrees and has Ishmael with Hagar. But during Hagar's pregnancy she grows to despise Sarah, her mistress. Sarah goes to her husband and is all what should I do? He tells her whatever you think best. So she ends up mistreating Hagar who then runs away. Then Sarah and Abraham have to endure some consequences for their actions. But then God sends people to Abraham and Sarah to give them the promise again. They tell them that by this time next year Sarah will have a child. And Sarah laughs unbelievingly! However, just as God had said within a years time Sarah had a child. Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.
I don't think I ever took the time to marvel at what a wonderful story that Sarah brings. God gave her a promise that she was too impatient to wait for. So, she decided to make up her own solution to her problems. However, predictably that ended terribly. However, in the end God blessed Sarah so richly that she couldn't have imagined being the mother of such a wonderful lineage.
I think God gives us many promises but we too need to wait for God to work them out. But if we do wait or even if we mess it up and God puts it back together, the amazing blessings that pour from the hand of God are better than we could even imagine of creating on our own.
Peace and blessings