what will you choose to do with your chains???

growing up in the south is a wonderful for many reason but my favorite is the story tellers. i have several friends and a brother who i could listen tell their stories fover. it is an amazing gift for someone to be able to weave together humor, true and false events, random people and events into a fascinating story. this sunday at church i was most excited to hear that a fellow individual from the deep south would be speaking-- hoping that he was a good story teller and that he would make the bible come alive. well to say the least i was not dissapointed. i left with a new perspective of things ad challenged in my faith-- not bad not bad at all:). he spoke about the trying times in life and that we all have them and how they serve a purpose. why is it that it always makes the hair on the back of hour neck stand u when you are having a difficult time and someone says there is a reasonc. there are times i would like to believe that i can grow closer to God and what he desires me to be without trials-- hahaha is all i have to say to that- we all fall into those bad habits of self dependence when given the easy road. anyway ths sermon was about paul being in chains i prision- in fact at this time he was chained to the roman guard set to watch him. it states that the news of the Lord spread throughout the roman guard. interesting choices- he spoke about the choice paul had to praise God and speak of his amazing characteristics- he did not vent about the wrong that was done to him, the way the law was not such that he should be free, he was not onsu ed by his anger. the question the nice southern gentleman propsed was "what do ou do with your chains". what do you do with the things that seem unfair, difficult and nit going anything like you planned? do you trust that your creator has a plan? are you o bediant when it costs something? i always tell my kids it is easy to be obediant in the right enviornment, as adults it is easy to be thankful when things go you r way. so the quesstion is what will you do when you have chains n you- use this time to show what you believe in, what is most dear and what gives you hope?? i was telling a friend the other night that when you take a second to step away from whatever the big problem is, the big thing that is hard to let go off,, do you see that you have a creator, you have a purpose, you have a plan that is being worked out. we long for the comfort of life and yet i am not sure where we have gotten that idea. our desire should be to grow more like Christ and be willing to sacrifice the things to get there. we want to see our childrens salvation but do not want to go through difficult things were they see our faith lived out---quick fast answers, quick fast solutions, somehow we stand and stamp our feet like a spoiled child when we do not get our way instead of saying praise God that he sees the result of this and how it plays out for generations to come. praise God that his focus is not our comfor for today but our spiritual growth for a lifetime. praise God that he disciplines me, loves me and forgives me when i insist on my own way!!!