Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It snowed yesterday and throughout the night and what I saw this morning as the Master woke up the world was nothing short of heavenly in my eyes. I usually roll with the flow when it comes to the weather because I Trust God’s hand in it all. I don’t mind the rain or the snow because I know God is nourishing the earth. I don’t whine about the winds that sometimes rage through the farm because I Know that God is either drying things up, pruning trees, scattering seeds or all the above. Why would I “bite the hand” of the One who feeds me by whining about His Work? However, every once in a while I do have a weather Request from the God who “scattered the stars in the sky and knows them each by name” and yesterday was one of those days. I prayed for Him to hold back the snow for a specific period of time and for a specific Purpose…and He did. He held back the snow. He held back the winds. He gave me everything I asked for – NOT because He wanted to please me but so that He would be Glorified through it all. My God is an awesome God.

It’s mind-boggling how easily God’s people can whine and complain about things they have absolutely no control over AND miss out on countless Blessings when they do. The Bible says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” so we have an open invitation to make our Requests known to the same God who caused the sun to “stand still”…but I don’t think He has much tolerance for whining because whining equates to saying that He’s not doing a good enough job in your eyes. Who do you think you are to criticize the Work of His Hands without even an ounce of Gratitude for all the other Blessings in the Journey of Life? Be careful what you wish for or whine about you might just get an abundance of what you’ve prayed for as a consequence of your selfishness. The Israelites learned a hard lesson about just that and they paid the price for their whining (while ignoring countless blessings). “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—UNTIL IT COMES OUT OF YOUR NOSTRILS and you loathe it”. Oops. God can be pushed too far and He won’t always tolerate whining from His people. Trusting His Will – Believing that He always Knows best – that He never makes mistakes – is the Key to a Surrendered Life.

I’m an imperfect woman living an imperfect life and I’m pretty sure I whine every once in a while without even realizing it…at least not at first. But the Closer I’ve drawn to Him the more I Trust His Will in all things and I enjoy just going along for the Ride. He’s my Protector. He’s my Provider. He’s my Deliverer. He’s my God, and as His Child, I know He only wants what’s best for me…not to be confused with something my flesh wants for me. Sometimes I make a “selfish” request so that I can do a Selfless thing in His Name and my God not only hears my prayers but honors them too. But if He hadn’t held back the snow yesterday as I Requested I still wouldn’t have whined. Instead, I would known with absolute certainty that the God of all Creation had Good Reason not to hold it back and I would have been Satisfied with His Will. “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil”.

I’m of “full age” – how about you?