An old fraternity brother of mine is currently undergoing chemothermapy treatments for cancer. Attached is something he wrote last week. His perspective on life humbles and amazes me and I look forward to his next update to see what he has learned in addition to following his progress. Here it is:
"It sometimes strikes me as funny (funny-weird, not necessarily funny-ha-ha) when I’m praying and asking God to keep my side effects minimal: here I am, small dude in the small town of [XXXXX], totally caught up in my own little world, and I’m asking the Almighty – the God of the Universe – to take a moment and help me out. It strikes me weird because I’m just a tiny cog in a vast machine, and with all the stuff – good and bad – going on the world, here I am just pretty clueless as to how good I really have it, and how wonderful our Savior Jesus Christ truly is. But it also is truly humbling to realize that it’s this Mighty God – Alpha and Omega – who doesn’t leave his answering machine on to pick up my prayer or say, “Wait a bit, Jevin, I’m busy in Europe right now.” He hears my prayers and knows my needs & desires, even before I have made them known in prayer. It’s so humbling, and yet it’s also hard to fully grasp what it means to have such a close connection to God. It’s better than the red phone that called the Bat Cave directly."
I don't have too much to add. God asks us to come to him with every desire of our heart and he hears every one. My life tends to go more smoothly when I do bring my desires to him. So why don't I do it more often? Pride? Self Reliance? We are all children until our glorious arrival in heaven as believers. We need to act more like children and ask our Abba Father for the things we desire rather than say "I can do it myself." The one instance of a father not teaching his children to be self reliant. I think now onto my own son (3 1/2) and how many times I say you can do it yourself. But our God says you don't have to do it yourself, I will do it for you and with you if you only would ask.
