Isaiah 55:8-9
\n<\/b>New Living Translation (NLT)<\/p>\n
\u00a08<\/b> \u201cMy thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,\u201d says the Lord.\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAnd my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.\u2028\u00a09<\/b> For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0so my ways are higher than your ways\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
\nHow many times have we mandated what we expect from God? Tragedy strikes, people get sick, family members unexpectedly die, and we demand an answer from God. The problem is not with God, but our lack of understanding of Him and His ways. When things happen that we don\u2019t like it is natural to try to find out who is to blame. Blaming God is never the right answer. Just because we don\u2019t understand why, doesn\u2019t mean that God did not have a good reason for allowing things to happen as they did.
\nI once was without a job for several months, after a while weekends lost their meaning. Everyday was like Saturday, nothing changed. I came to a stark realization, it is the absence of blessings that make them so appreciated when they do come. The same is true of photography. You can go to the same location, even some beautiful place, but until that magic morning or evening happens when the light and conditions are perfect, you never get that ultimate thrill or image. We learn to endure many mornings dragging ourselves out of bed well before sunrise to be on location, just in case, the magic happens, when it does, it is all the more exciting because of it\u2019s rarity.
\nOne of he greatest gifts of this life is anticipation. The hope for something good. God is good and He gives us only good things, but He teaches us to endure so that when we face real difficult times we can hold on through them. Would we like all times to be just perfect? Sure, but we would be unwise to wish for such an existence. Years ago I had very dear friend, who has gone on to be with the Lord. He was very wealthy, far beyond what I could imagine. He once told me that he truly missed the days when he and his family had very little. They took one, one week, vacation a year and they spent months planning, and in anticipation of it. He said, \u201cNow I could pick up the phone and buy airline tickets to anywhere I wanted to go in the world, and the magic is gone. It\u2019s just not special like it was back then, when we had so little.\u201d That\u2019s real wisdom.
\nWe desire to have everything, and have it now. God in His infinite wisdom, loves us to much to spoil our lives with too many blessings in a constant stream. His ways are higher than our ways, His wisdom is far beyond ours. True peace and joy comes when you can rest in the knowledge that He has a plan and it is a plan for our good. Thank Him for all the good in your life, and then know when hard times come He will be right beside you. Good times will come again.
\nInstead of trying to direct God\u2019s path, how about letting Him direct yours?
\nBe blessed and rest in Him,
\nthe pilgrim<\/p>\n
\t*\tPhoto Note: Nikon D7000, 24-120 AF-S VR f4 lens, HDR (3 shots at 2 f stops apart) Processed with Photomatix Pro, Painterly filter. Then desaturated in Photoshop CS-5.
\n\t*\tToday\u2019s entry inspired by Dr. Charles Stanley\u2019s In Touch daily devotional for today July 15th, 2011.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Isaiah 55:8-9 New Living Translation (NLT) \u00a08 \u201cMy thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,\u201d says the Lord.\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAnd my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.\u2028\u00a09 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0so my ways are higher than your ways\u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. How many times have we mandated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2768,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}