Nehemiah 9:16-21

Nehemiah 9:16-21
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Last night, we walked to the grocery store.  As a treat, we bought the kids lollipops.  Now, the lollipops at the store have wrappers, so after checking out I took Danielle's lollipop so I could remove the wrapper.
  And she cried.
  And cried.
  Because I took her lollipop.
  She didn't realize I was going to give it back to her, making it possible for her to eat and enjoy since the wrapper would be gone.  She just thought it was gone forever.
  We do the same thing to God.  God tries to steer us in one direction, and whenever it gets tough, we start to wonder if God has abandoned us, giving us up to the whims of fate, leaving us to fend for ourselves.  We cry out... when in fact God has never left our sides, always with us, preparing us for whatever comes next.  God is always building us up, moving us forward, encouraging us.
  I don't know why bad things happen in life, but I trust in the God who promises to lead us into eternal life, and so in the moments of chaos and confusion, I cling to Christ and believe that the future in his hands will enable me to some day understand all the difficult phases that I discovered along the road.