I read this quote the other day, “Parenting really is a crash course in theology. You have someone made in your image who you love so desperately you can hardly stand it. But half the time they’re convinced you’re trying to make them miserable when everything you’re doing is actually for their ultimate good.”
WOW!
Are we not just a bunch of toddlers walking around complaining?
Just last night, my 4 year old, Noah, was asking me for chips and then candy and then pretzels and then ice cream all 5 minutes before dinner was going to be ready. I kept saying, “not now, we’re about to eat dinner.” And he kept getting so mad at me but I knew if he ate a snack then he wouldn’t eat his dinner. I was just trying to help him make a good choice and get a good healthy meal.
My 1 year old, Brielle, is super mobile now and she’s obsessed with my stairs. But because I want her to be safe, I don’t let her climb them unless I’m with her. When I take that sweet little baby off the steps, she turns into a wild animal thrashing about and tantruming. She doesn’t see it as me protecting her, she sees it as me preventing her from doing what she wants to do.
The truth is that God is good, He loves us more than we can imagine, He wants the best for us. But sometimes, we get set on something that we want, a goal we want to achieve, a path that we want to go down. But God sees the big picture, He understands ever outcome and sometimes what we want isn’t actually going to be good for us. Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
It’s really hard when God says no to us, but what we can trust, is that even a “no” from God is better than a “yes” from the world. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He wants good for us. He IS GOOD.
So the next time you get upset because things didn’t go the way you had hoped they would, think about when you were little and your earthly caretaker said “no” for your good. Or the last time you said “no” to your own kids for their good. There is something better for you on the other side of that “no.” We just need to trust and have faith.
Kristen James
Morning Show Host, STAR 99.1 | Listen Now
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Hi Kristen,
I have been listening to Star 99.1 for several years now. If you told me years ago I’d be listening to a Christian station I would have laughed. I started listening because I love Christmas music—I love Christmas—the giving, the happiness, etc. In any case, when Christmas season ended and your station was on, I ended up really liking the music and continued to listen.
This article was most difficult to read because I just lost my son last month. He was 33 years old and I am beyond heartbroken. I tried to protect my son as he grew up, wanted him to have a great life. I just nursed him back to health as he was extremely ill for two years with Long COVID and could barely move. He just got better, got a job, was back in his apartment, had a new girlfriend he was happy with. I was finally able to go on vacation after all this and I got a phone call that he OD’d (on my birthday). I was in Switzerland and it took me all day to get home and then I wasn’t even able to see him for five days.
I took my two sons everywhere as they grew. I taught them to be thoughtful, loving human beings. I fought to get both of them help when I found out they both had the disease of addiction. My youngest son is 10.5 years sober.
It’s really, really hard for me to understand why he was taken at 33 years old when he had already suffered so much and was just getting back on his feet. His wake was four hours—the parking lot was full, and the line was out the door for those four hours. I honestly don’t know how many people from his NA group came up to me to say he saved their life—that he was the one who told them to keep coming back—that he was the one who sat with them when no one else did, he was the one who kept calling them out of the blue to see if they were ok.
This cunning disease deceived all of us who thought he was doing ok, and now he is gone. It’s really hard for me to trust that there is a good reason for this. I am really struggling to find one. In any case, I am very thankful for your radio station which is helping me get by, one day at a time.