Believing in God's Best

Believing in God's Best
By Lesli Grandy

I have always had a heart for the “lowest of the low and the poorest of the poor” as I used to call it.  I received my degree in elementary education, and I can remember my first open house at Wintergreen Intermediate as a 21 year old college senior.  As I walked in, my heart broke.  There were so many kids skipping in holding hands between their parents.  They were carefree and all smiles.  Then there were kids trudging in with a big sister or a teenager or even one child who walked in alone.  My sadness became anger at the injustice of the world, and it threw me into this imbalance of complete confusion as to why some children have so much and some children have nothing. 

Now that I am a parent, I have a much more clear understanding.  Our children are a huge answer to our prayers, and there’s nothing in this world that I love more.  Yet still I am stuck in a state of confusion.  Because I love my children so much, I want them to have the best.  However,  I loathe the fact that I spend so much time and energy thinking about the best schools, lessons, friends, and experiences for them while some children don’t have anyone thinking about them at all.

This morning I had a revelation that can only have come from God.   It is so simple, yet so profound. 

 It is not my responsibility to provide the “best” for my kids. 

Now, I’m not saying that I’m going to sit on the couch and just let things happen as they will, never taking the initiative to do anything for them again.  What I mean is that regardless of where they go to school, where they take lessons, or what experiences they have, GOD is going to provide HIS best for them.  This simple truth has lifted a burden off my shoulders, and made clear so much that has confused me for years.

Kids who are born into situations where they have nothing can still receive the best, because God loves them and wants them to have HIS best just like He wants my kids to have His best.  It’s a level playing field when it comes to God’s love.  His best can happen in the projects or in a country club, in a drug filled house or in a loving play group.  God can move mountains to provide for children because He loves them.

So where does that leave us? We pray.  We pray for our children, but we also pray for children who have nothing.  When you drive past West Greenville, pray for the kids.  When you go to open house at school, pray for the kids.  When you are watching a little league baseball game this summer, pray for the kids.  Whenever the Holy Spirit prompts you, pray for the kids.  I think we’ll all find that as we start praying for the kids who have “nothing,” that God will start to do something amazing in their lives and ours.  We might find ourselves praying for kids all over the world, all the time.  And we might just see miracles happening in the lives of children who have never had the world’s best, but now are experiencing God’s best.