NOVEMBER 10, Proverbs 3:5

It had not been a good week for Jenny! First, her friend moved away from their neighbourhood. Then her dog died. To top it off, on Saturday Jenny discovered that her favourite dress had accidentally been bleached in the washer. By the time Mom returned from her afternoon shopping trip, Jenny was feeling absolutely terrible. Crying, she told Mom all about her troubles.

Mom listened thoughtfully.“Things certainly seem to have taken a turn for the worse, haven’t they,” said Mom as she put a big square package on the table. Jenny nodded and watched as Mom took a pair of scissors from a drawer and began to carefully cut a small hole in the center of the wrapping.

“What are you doing?” asked Jenny as Mom finished cutting and returned the scissors to the drawer.
“I bought a picture to hang on the living room wall,” said Mom. She smiled and held the package up for Jenny to see. “What do you think of it?”

Jenny frowned. “Unwrap it so I can see it,” she said.
“I cut that hole in the wrapping so you can look at the picture,” answered Mom. “You can see it through this hole, can’t you?”

Jenny shook her head. She was puzzled. “Are you kidding?” she asked.
“That little hole is much too small for me to see what the picture looks like!”

“You’re right about that,” said Mom. “What I really want you to see is that life is like this picture.”

“In what way?” asked Jenny.
“All we can see of the big picture of our lives is what’s happening to us right now,” explained Mom. “It’s as though we’re looking at it through a small ‘hole’ in the wrapping. But God can see the whole picture. He allows us to face troubles because he knows that the experience we gain will mould our lives into a beautiful picture. We just have to trust Him.” Mom smiled at Jenny. “Now go ahead and unwrap the picture,” she added. “You’ll see that it really is beautiful.” 

Thought: Are you troubled by things that have happened in your life? Keep on trusting God to take care of you.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to trust You even as I go through adversities in life. Help me to know that You are in sovereign control of my life. This is my prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.