Satan Carries a Shrimp Fork

I posted a bulletin on MySpace about a little mishap I had. It involved stepping on a shrimp fork and puncturing the bottom of my foot. It's a long story, but the result is a little blood blister 2 days before I leave for a mission trip with our church youth group. We're going to the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, and I'm very excited. In fact, the only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to wear close-toed shoes for the entire week. Ah, the sacrifices we make...

So I mentioned in my post that this little injury is going to make it interesting to do all the walking and hiking involved in the trip. It's really not that bad; Andrew kissed it and it feels better already. Anyway, one of my MySpace friends commented that maybe it was a message from God that I was not meant to go on the trip. I was quick to point out that God does not cause harm, but sometimes He allows it to happen to test our faith. Not that my little foot wound is comparable to, say, Job's trials, but it's the same concept. I reminded my friend that the sometimes the enemy puts obstacles in our path to keep us from doing God's work, but we have to see them for what they are and overcome them. How can you tell when the obstacle is from God or the enemy? I've always kind of gone by the thought that if it causes fear, anger, or pain, it's not God. If I have a peace that I can get over it, such as with the boo-boo on my foot, maybe it was just a little test of faith.

So she pointed out the times when, say, people can't find their car keys and know they're going to be late for work and have been told that if they're late one more time, they're fired. There's a lot of negative emotion going on there. Fear, anger, anxiety... But when they hit rush hour because they left late and are sitting on a bridge all stressed out and see an airplane hit the building they should have been in, is that from God? It's so hard to know.

Twice since the doctors told us not to get pregnant again, friends have called us with the hope of adopting a newborn. They knew a girl who got pregnant and wasn't ready to be and wanted to know if we would be willing to take the baby in. ABSOLUTELY!!! We never hesitate to say yes. What kind of Christians would we be if we asked these moms to choose life and then didn't offer a loving, secure home for their baby to grow up in. But each time, the mother did not choose to carry the baby. It's hard for us to hear that the choice has been made, not only because we've lost a potential addition to our family, but because I know how lasting the effects of that decision can be. One of my best friends made that choice in high school, and now at my age she still cannot conceive. Here she is 15 years later struggling with her choice and crying every day because of it. My question, though, is - is God trying to tell me 2 kids is where our family is supposed to be? I'm pretty sure He wouldn't use such extreme means to make his point, but it's been known to happen. After all, what did Job teach us but that God cares more for the Spirit than the flesh.

I have hope that God has a plan for me. There are obstacles that I don't understand. His ways are not mine, and I will never understand it all. After everything I've seen, though, I could never turn my faith from the knowledge that he has my best interest at heart, and that he is using me, punctured foot and all, for the exact purpose he created me for.