Growth Spurt

     It was the beginning of the year. The time when resolutions are made but never kept, when people decide to change their life style to become a "better" person, when students in college start preparing for all the new classes, when loan companies thrive. Around this time the boy decided he would take a class with some of his friends. He thought it would be really fun to be with his friends while taking a class. And it was. The boy was having a great time studying and learning new things with his partners in crime. But there were also two new people who he had never met before that were friends of the people he knew. These new people became his friends also but after the end of the class, he did not see them again for a quite a long time. Little did the boy know, one of the new friends had some interest in him. Then after about six or so months the boy found out that the girl he had met in class liked him. So he started emailing her to get to know her. Fast forward a month and the boy and girl are really getting to know each other. Then one day the boy's parents decide to have a bible study at his home. So the boy musters up the courage to invite her to join the study. To his delight the girl accepts. As the bible study continues, the boy and girl begin forming a strong relationship. This relationship was focused around God and both of them loved Him very much. Again, fast forward a couple months and they are considered a "couple". Spending time with each other is their favorite thing to do. They thought that nothing would ever separate them. Together they planed to do great things for God. But later their relationship became more and more about them and less about God. Over time their relationship began to fall apart. Neither one of them wanted to accept the fact it was falling apart. But as they kept seeing each other, the more arguments they would have. Although they both love each other the arguments would just not stop. It was getting to the point where the girl was starting to doubt whether or not the two were meant for each other. One day the girl starts to realize that she does not love the boy anymore. So, she breaks up with him. The boy was heart broken. He had tried so hard to fix the problems in the relationship but in the end it did not work out. The boy started to become depressed. There was nothing anyone could do to cheer him up. He asked God "Why?" so many times. He tried to get her back but it was useless. The two were finished. He finally realized that they were not going to get back together. The boy did not know what to do so he just kept on living his life while being depressed all the time. One month later school started. It was his first time in college and he was nervous. He had always known that the girl was going to be by his side during this time but she was not. The boy felt alone. But still he kept on living his life. He started to meet new friends at school and became more involved with a college group. Over the course of the semester the boy started to come closer to God and his new friends. During the semester the boy started to see how the break up might have actually been a good thing. In the beginning he thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened and that there was no way God could use it for good. But, as he thought about it more he realized that if they were still together he might have not been as close to the new friends he met. He also realized that had they stayed together, he could have stayed stagnant in his faith. He was finally starting to see. The mud was washed away from his eyes. Although the experience had hurt him badly he was glad that God did use it for good. The hard time brought the boy closer to God and turned him into a man. He saw what he had done wrong and why certain things happened and started to change them. By this time he was not changing his ways for the girl, he was changing his ways for God. When the man looked back at the time just before all this happened he remembered that he had prayed that God would bring him closer to Him and that he would start having a great relationship with God. The man knew that God really did bring something good out of a hurtful experience. In the end the boy became a man. He started living for God like he was supposed to be all along. Through all of this his friends were always there for him and helped him get through the hard time. He was very grateful for his friends and thanked God for them because without them he would still be depressed.  

     God really does bring good out of everything. You might not see it right away but God is always in control of our situations. It may take months or even years to finally see why God did something or you might not ever see why He allowed something bad to happen in your life. But we should always trust God and know that He has our best intentions in mind. He will be with us always and guide us to live a life of love. God does not like to see us suffer. When we are suffering it may feel as if God is not with you but He is there. There is an illustration where someone is walking in the sand and they can see their footprints. They notice that there are another set of prints that are right next to them and they realize they are God's. But when they start going through a hard time, they look down and see that there are now only one set. They think to themselves that they are all alone and that God had left them. Later they ask God why He was not with them during the difficult time and God responds saying, "I was still with you. Those are not your prints in the sand, they are mine because the whole time I was carrying you." God will never ever leave you. He will be with you until the end. Take Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for example. They were on thrown into a fiery furnace for not bowing down and worshiping King Nebuchadnezzar's idol. Although they were about to die they stood their ground and knew that whatever happened God was with them. And God was with them. They were thrown into the fire but they did not burn. Nebuchadnezzar even saw a fourth person standing in the fire with them. We must always believe that God is with us because he always will be. No matter what you are going through whether it is break up or not God is with you. We must trust Him. In Psalm 139 David says that God knows our every thought and that He is always surrounding us with his love. God knows everything about us. He created us, He should know. Even though God has said it, I still forget and I doubt. But we must not doubt God. We must believe in Him that he will guide our paths and that He will be the light for us in the dark. Through God we will grow to be the person He created us to be.

Psalm 139: 1-12

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.