Great, God Just Glorified Himself All Over My Rug

God won't give you more than you can handle.

People used to spout that at me and I would seethe- at the age of 6. The implication is, of course, that if you fail to handle something, it's because you're lazy, not because it's too much for you. After all, god wouldn't do that to you. God is love. And killing Egyptians.

That is, of course, bullshit. Things happen because they do. Or because we cause them to. Or because somebody else caused them to.

This explanation, however, raises the level of horrifying:

God knows exactly how much I can handle, but oftentimes He chooses to display His glory by placing me in situations far above my ability to handle them so that He can come in and show Himself. Sometimes, He has to bring me to a point where I realize that I just can't do it on my own. It is when I confess, "I need you, Lord!" that He is glorified and freely pours out His grace.

I have taught a child to swim. At first, I supported her in water up to my waist for my own convenience, and well above her head, by holding her up with my hands on her stomach, so she could learn the movements of swimming without having to be able to float. Then we moved to the very shallow end of the pool and learned how to float. I chose the shallow end so that if she sank, she could just put her feet down and have her head above the water. Then we combined the floating and the swimming, with me intervening immediately as soon as I felt she might possibly be starting to have trouble. (Cuz drowning other people's children just isn't cool.)

The point is, were I god, according to this person's logic, I would have thrown this child into the deep end and only saved her if she clearly articulated that I was far better at swimming than her and she really needed help.

So, how many of you would pat me on the back and call me a responsible adult if I did that? And how many of you would hold my head under the water until I stopped arguing about it? Yeah, I'd do that, too.

But I should totally get down on my knees and thank the lord for allowing me to drown until I specifically told him how fantastic he is.

Grandma's Roasting in Hell, Being Tortured by Demons, Honey. Now Eat Your Peas!

There's a lesson here somewhere.

I've probably mentioned this before, but my first crisis of faith occurred when I was six and a nun told me that dogs don't go to Heaven. Really, what's the point of Heaven if there won't be dogs* in it**?

Now imagine if that nun had told me my beloved grandparents were being tortured by demons for all eternity. Only the nun is your mom. And she says it like it's a good thing.

I know many of us have many unsaved family members, spouses, parents, sisters, brothers, etc.

But, as a parent, I think having an unsaved child(ren), no matter how old they are, is heartwretching and I am having a very difficult time with this.

As a parent we have tried to protect our children since birth and now when they don't know Jesus, it is like watching them die a slow death.

I have 2 children, a son 44 and a daughter 43.

My daughter is not saved, lives in Florida, never married, no children, beautiful, but is a party girl. She doesn't talk to me much or to the rest of the family either. I think deep down she is not as happy as she pretends to be. If I mention Jesus to her, she tells me to have fun thinking about my "afterlife" while she does everything she can to enjoy this one.

Yeah, she sounds miserable.

My son wa saved over 20 years ago during a relationship with a born again believer. All 3 of us attended church together. He was a changed man. But the relatioship ended and my son didn't show alot of fruit in later years, But, he always assured me he knew Jesus and would be in Heaven with me. Always! A couple months ago he told me he changed his mind and he thinks there are many ways to Heaven as he can't fathom the thought that his paternal grandparents whom he adored (but were as Catholic as they come) are in Hell.

I like him. Poor guy. Can you imagine being raised by this woman. "You know your grandparents, sweetie? Yes, they loved you very much. They played with you and hugged you and got you great presents and they're screaming their lungs out while being tortured by demons right now. Right now! Isn't that great?" Srsly.

I have to admit that knowing the Rapture is upon us, I am already grieving for my children. I can't stand the agony, even though I know in my heart that if God wants them for His own, He will find a way.

This may sound awful, but I think I could deal better if they died KNOWING Jesus (prior to the Rapture) then knowing that they could die without knowing Jesus or that we could be taken at any time and they will be left behind.

Wow. That's . . . um . . . I dunno, maybe German has a word for that? English sure doesn't. I have never ever looked at any of my loved ones and thought, "You know, I'd feel better about things if you were dead. Right now. Yeah, that would make me more comfortable." That's . . . O.o

How do you find joy when you are a parent of lost children and you never know when the phone will ring with bad news with an accident or we never know when we will be raptured when things appear that it will likely be soon?

See, now I can answer that question: Take a lesson from your son and your daughter and stop believing silly shit like this and enjoy the life you have with them now, before it's too late.

*Or cats or horses or bunnies or hamsters, etc.

**I can't remember who came up with this idea, but I read once that Heaven and Hell are the same place, it's just that two different people will find the same thing to be both pleasing and displeasing, so for me, Heaven is endless fields of puppies, but for someone who is scared of dogs, that's simultaneously Hell. It's really quite a clever idea.