She begged for a king...

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I friend of mine Facebook messaged me to tell me that her daughter is getting married.


I messaged back telling her that I'd heard, my daughter had told me. I asked her what she thought about it.... telling her that I didn't know the guy so had no opinion of him. 


She replied:

"Well, I don't know how I feel truly. Or, maybe I do... I feel like I love her more than life itself and her decision is made and that I will be by her through thick and thin. Remember when the children of Israel begged for a King and God tried to warn them, but gave them what they wanted? Well..... that is the example that keeps coming to my mind..... The children of Israel and all that God did to give them what they wanted..... all the while knowing it wasn't the best thing... but still.... loving them beyond what we can comprehend. He is truly an amazing God and all that I know to do at this point in my life is to look at Him and try to do as close to what He would do as my human side will allow. I know that doesn't really answer the question.... well, yes it does.... because I know this is Spirit talk and we Spirit talk well together."


I wrote her back:


"My first thought (because of something I'd just written) was: He can turn the heart of a king!!! Because where I am right now (in prison), I am definitely being privy to see His workings in doing just that. Wow though.... in all that you wrote................... We do pray for "kings", don't we??!!?......... Not realizing the journey that they will one day take us on..... nor all that they'll require and take from us. We sure, too often, make this road we walk on harder than it ought to be, you know? I am reminded often of what I heard Jill Briscoe once say that someone said to her. She told her, "I'm living right next to King David." Woe! I know that you were talking about a different king (not King David, but King Saul), but even that one, at one time, was dangerous! 


Why do we so wish for, want, and long for kings? Kings of all sorts, really. Yes, kings as in knight-in-shining-armors. Kings, as in jobs with bosses. Kings, as in desires.... like drugs and drinking (though never at first would we see such as kings!)... as in things that rule us (without ever truly realizing that one day they will). Wow... you've prompted so many ponderings inside me..... I could go a thousand different directions from what you've provoked my mind into thinking. I'll try to resist and reel it all back in and rein it back to your direction............ You said that often we beg..... and that when we do, God gives us what we've begged for, pleaded to Him for, and wanted so badly......... How scary! How seriously badly we want it. But how scary! The great thing about God though.... is that (usually after a detour of horror), He can ransom it, redeem it, renew it, refuel it, make it better, show His glory in it, make it a Display of His Splendor. We may be scarred... but mended. Hurt... but healed. Broken.... but repaired and made better. And then, wildly used for His Glory! A testimony to tell of His Story.


Just remind her before she says her "I dos" of the Velveteen Rabbit..... You don't become real overnight.... it's when someone loves you for a very long, long time, not just to play with anymore, but really loves you through everything still, then you become real. To make it "real"... it takes a lot of tatters. You get forgotten and left in the rain sometimes. You get hurt. You get torn. Your skin tears. You become really shabby. Your hair falls out. Sometimes your eyes do. You'll be worn.... but you'll be "real." And everyone knows that once you're "real" you can never become unreal again.


Crazily, I said all of that to say what God said in His way even better. Love is patient! It's kind! It keeps NO record of wrong! It isn't easily angered. It isn't rude. It forgets. It keeps on. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It always perseveres. It doesn't self-seek...... It covers a multitude of sins!


Meanwhile.... before these "I dos" take place, I will be praying. God knows what I don't. I will fervently be seeking His will and His way and even His words to pray.


I love you! Oh goodness, girl, there's LOTS to do if there's soon to be a wedding! Oh my... the thought is staggering...........


But.... back to the king issue. What kind of "king" have you been praying for? You don't know it's a "king". It doesn't look like a king. No one's ever called it a king. But make no mistake, disguised as it may be, it may very well be a "king"... and if it's a "king"... underneath its deception it's mean, and it wants to control, master, and rule over you.
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