Yesterday I wrote about my son rebuilding a high school football program in California and a post that he wrote about being a builder or a joiner. He ended that post with a comment about two types of parents. “There are two kinds of parents, those who prepare the path for their kids, and those that prepare their kids for the path. Which one are you?”
As I considered that question, I thought about our Father God and suddenly realized what kind of “parent” our Father God is!
That made me think about how I pray and the direction my prayers often take. I realized that I often request my Father to make the path easy – or at least easier, but my Father God is the kind of “parent” that seeks to prepare me for the path.
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” [Romans 5:3-5 NLT]
Because our God loves us dearly, He has given us the Holy Spirit. Because we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have the ability with His guidance and help to develop all we need for the path … endurance, strength of character, confident hope of salvation.
And because our God loves us and prepares us, we can REJOICE when we run into a path that contains problems and trials.
