When God seems to be silent - He's really not!

Greetings everyone, I just got back from a trip to Missouri, where all of my sisters and I got together for a whole week.  It was to celebrate my sister Beatrices' 50th birthday, believe me she doesn't look it. My sisters Beatrice and Rosemary both live in Belton.  My two other sisters, Gloria and Irma also joined us and flew in from Corpus Christi, Texas.  It was so good to see them and spend time with them for the whole week.  While we were there my sister Rosemary became a great grandma – a title I do not wish to have yet.  But Ayden her new grand baby is adorable and I was blessed to have been able to see him and her family.

We didn’t do a lot of sight seeing, but the time that we did have together was priceless!  We played cards and watched movies and cooked meals for each other – those are the best times for sure. We visited a beautiful museum in Kansas City, it's a gorgeous city with so much history it's unbelievable.  

I spent a lot of time with my sister Beatrice, because I stayed with her in her apartment while I was there. Gloria and Irma stayed with Rosemary. Beatrice is also a very crafty lady.  She wanted me to teach her to knit, so I did.  Now she is very excited to begin new projects as she becomes more comfortable with knitting vs. crocheting.  She creates some beautiful crochet projects and I know she will be awesome as knitting too.  It was such a blessing to spend time with her and all my sisters, God is good!

Today I want to focus on the times that God is silent, or at least seems to be.  The times when we pray and nothing happens, when we need him the most and he does not seem to be there.  I want you to recall the story of Joseph from the bible.  He was sold to slavery by his older brothers remember?  All during the time that he was a slave, God was silent, Yet Joseph never lost faith.  I believe it was about 13 years before Joseph saw God’s plan unfold in front of his eyes when Pharaoh made him second in command of Egypt.  

Joseph suffered greatly in the hands of others, and none of his own doing as a matter of fact. He was thrown into prison because Pharaoh’s wife wanted to have sex with him, but he did the right thing and refused her.  Yet, Joseph did not get bitter, he just kept doing what he thought was right.  That is such an inspiration to me, even when his brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites he wasn’t bitter with them when he finally saw them again and forgave them for what they did to him. This is totally awesome to me.

So it is clear that God’s silence is in no way indicative of His activity or involvement in our lives.  It is a hard pill to swallow at times, but let me assure you  He is working out His plan in our lives. It is how we respond to those trials and adversities that will determine the outcome.  Then there are times when we maybe guilty of judging God’s involvement in our lives by how favorable or unfavorable our circumstances are.  As long as things are going good, we have absolutely no doubt that God is with us, taking care of us, providing and protecting us at all times.  But as soon as something goes wrong that is not in our favor, we may think:  Lord, where are you?  Why is this happening to me, why haven’t you paid attention to my needs here?

God’s involvement is measured by two things, 1st the development of our character and 2^nd, by the fulfillment of His plan for our lives.  In Joseph’s case, he spent 13 years facing one adversity after another, trial after trial.  Yet God was involved every step of the way, it may not have appeared that way to Joseph at the time.  But it was through those adversities that God was accomplishing His will.  He will do the same for us in our lives, if we choose to do the right thing, no matter how it feels. If we never loose faith, and we keep trusting Him with all your heart!

God Bless you!!