I know we all have heard "God puts you where He wants you." I believe this. I also believe God doesn't allow you certain places because you will be a big ol' pain in His rump and completely mess up what He has going on. This became very evident to me about a month ago.
I was standing outside rehashing the day with Dana(Boys' House Mom, friend, and my go to for surviving daily here). The current situation was I had 4 out of 5 new kids come in with lice and had been treating them. (If you don't know what that includes, it is a lot of shampooing, soaking, and meticulous combing) She had kids who thought they might go home and ended up not getting to because of decisions made by their mom. The mom is on campus weekly for visits. She had just had an intense conversation with mom. She had been stern but compassionate. She gave her a shoulder to cry on and helped her compose herself before addressing the kids. I would have said not nice things to her. Dana had much more compassion and showed her Jesus's love WAY more than I would have. Trust me. We were discussing this and she was saying how she could not handle the lice situation. I said "I guess we were both right where we needed to be. I am not flinching at the lice anymore and you would freak. I would have been ugly to her and you showed her love. Successful day." We both laughed and went to our houses. But then the Holy Spirit got a hold of that statement and I really evaluated what I had said. How true it was. I don't think I am that smart, I just think sometimes God gives us some wisdom that comes straight from Him and if we are lucky it makes it out of our mouths. I was where I needed to be. That lady may very well come to know Christ down the road. It may all be because Dana didn't show her judgement or anger. She just loved her, even when by 'wordly' standards she didn't have to. I would quite possibly have ruined everything God has been doing and showing her in her life. So then I started trying to find positive in the lice situation. And I realized that for at least 30 minutes every night I got precious time with each girl while I combed their hair(strand by strand. over and over again.) I got to hear stories. I got to hear giggles. I got to hear their view on things. I even got my very first "I Love You" from one of them. I am careful about using those words. Many of my kids have heard it plenty but not shown it. I don't just throw it out there. I wait and see how the kids attaches. How they will respond to it. One night, one of the girls and I were talking about chores while I combed. She asked what chore I did. When I went through the list of all I did I said "My job is to live here and take care of you and love you." She was sitting in front of me. She turned around and said "You love me?" I said "Of course I do." The biggest grin took over her face and she said "I LOVE YOU TOO!!" I am sitting here currently crying and thanking God once again for those nasty little bugs. I formed bonds because of them. That same little girl, a couple of weeks later, was angry because she found out that we were getting a baby the next day. I said "Why are you mad about the baby?" She said, "You won't take care of me as much." I asked her what she wanted me to do for her. She responded by telling me "Cook for me." Her older sister was sitting nearby and said "She cooks every meal for you." And she then said "Hold me like you will hold the baby." That night after still combing her hair for lice(yeah folks, that stuff don't just disappear. trust me I know every remedy, method, wives tale, etc) I pulled her into my lap and held her like a baby. She giggled the whole time. The next morning I said, "Tell Mr. Dustin what I did for you last night." She laughed and said "SHE HELD ME LIKE A BABY!" All because of lice. Well maybe not all, but they helped a lot.
We all have situations that aren't pretty. If you are there, God allowed it. I think it is our job to call on Him and to try and figure out just why. Most of the time(okay, probably every time) it is to teach us something. But, I also believe it is probably to help someone else to. There are always reasons. There are also always upsides to every situation. You just have to be willing to find them and do the work to make it positive.
I was standing outside rehashing the day with Dana(Boys' House Mom, friend, and my go to for surviving daily here). The current situation was I had 4 out of 5 new kids come in with lice and had been treating them. (If you don't know what that includes, it is a lot of shampooing, soaking, and meticulous combing) She had kids who thought they might go home and ended up not getting to because of decisions made by their mom. The mom is on campus weekly for visits. She had just had an intense conversation with mom. She had been stern but compassionate. She gave her a shoulder to cry on and helped her compose herself before addressing the kids. I would have said not nice things to her. Dana had much more compassion and showed her Jesus's love WAY more than I would have. Trust me. We were discussing this and she was saying how she could not handle the lice situation. I said "I guess we were both right where we needed to be. I am not flinching at the lice anymore and you would freak. I would have been ugly to her and you showed her love. Successful day." We both laughed and went to our houses. But then the Holy Spirit got a hold of that statement and I really evaluated what I had said. How true it was. I don't think I am that smart, I just think sometimes God gives us some wisdom that comes straight from Him and if we are lucky it makes it out of our mouths. I was where I needed to be. That lady may very well come to know Christ down the road. It may all be because Dana didn't show her judgement or anger. She just loved her, even when by 'wordly' standards she didn't have to. I would quite possibly have ruined everything God has been doing and showing her in her life. So then I started trying to find positive in the lice situation. And I realized that for at least 30 minutes every night I got precious time with each girl while I combed their hair(strand by strand. over and over again.) I got to hear stories. I got to hear giggles. I got to hear their view on things. I even got my very first "I Love You" from one of them. I am careful about using those words. Many of my kids have heard it plenty but not shown it. I don't just throw it out there. I wait and see how the kids attaches. How they will respond to it. One night, one of the girls and I were talking about chores while I combed. She asked what chore I did. When I went through the list of all I did I said "My job is to live here and take care of you and love you." She was sitting in front of me. She turned around and said "You love me?" I said "Of course I do." The biggest grin took over her face and she said "I LOVE YOU TOO!!" I am sitting here currently crying and thanking God once again for those nasty little bugs. I formed bonds because of them. That same little girl, a couple of weeks later, was angry because she found out that we were getting a baby the next day. I said "Why are you mad about the baby?" She said, "You won't take care of me as much." I asked her what she wanted me to do for her. She responded by telling me "Cook for me." Her older sister was sitting nearby and said "She cooks every meal for you." And she then said "Hold me like you will hold the baby." That night after still combing her hair for lice(yeah folks, that stuff don't just disappear. trust me I know every remedy, method, wives tale, etc) I pulled her into my lap and held her like a baby. She giggled the whole time. The next morning I said, "Tell Mr. Dustin what I did for you last night." She laughed and said "SHE HELD ME LIKE A BABY!" All because of lice. Well maybe not all, but they helped a lot.
We all have situations that aren't pretty. If you are there, God allowed it. I think it is our job to call on Him and to try and figure out just why. Most of the time(okay, probably every time) it is to teach us something. But, I also believe it is probably to help someone else to. There are always reasons. There are also always upsides to every situation. You just have to be willing to find them and do the work to make it positive.
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