When life doesn’t make sense, we often try to fix it, make sense of it, or change it. We wrestle, don’t we? But what if we didn’t have to understand it or try to make it better? What if we could trust that God knows, and since He knows, it’s enough to turn our wrestling into resting?
Well, today we’re letting go of our questions, worries, and angst over life’s struggles and placing them in the hands of our all-knowing God!
As a college student, I volunteered at a youth camp for several summers. Most of the time, I led worship and hung out with the girls, but this night, the altar was full of teenagers and the youth minister asked if I would help counsel. Within 10 seconds of my “yes,” a young man made a beeline to me. He was middle school-aged. I knew his name but that was all I knew. I asked him why he came to the front and he told me it was because he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart.
I reviewed what that meant with him and then asked him to pray with me. “Nope.” was all he said.
Okay, so this is not what I expected! It made no sense. I explained the gospel and asked him again. “Do you want to pray to receive Christ?”
“Nope.”
I asked “Do you understand?” He answered, “Nope.”
So, I explained again and thought we had a breakthrough. Again I asked, “Do you want to receive Christ?” You guessed it! “Nope,” was his answer.
I was so frustrated and confused. I hadn’t had much experience with middle school boys, but, seriously? I just couldn’t tell if he was rebellious, pulling my leg or truly didn’t understand.
The youth minister must have seen me looking totally perplexed and helpless so he rushed over.
Oscar Wilde once wisely asked, “How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?”
Can I get a witness from my sisters reading this? The man got it right!
Actually, long before him, the Apostle Peter observed something similar. Well, sorta. He told husbands to “live with their wives in an understanding way” (1 Peter 3: 7). Peter knew it then and we know it now; sometimes we are difficult to understand!
So, I thought it would be fun to help us sisters by providing a few tips to help our men understand us. Feel free to print this, post this or pass it on to your husband. In fact, I bet it would look really good on his bathroom mirror or better yet, why don’t you just tape it to your TV screen? I bet he’ll notice it!
Me and my Dr. Phil, with Caroline and her Clayton. One of the happiest days of my life!
If there is one phrase I have heard from my Dr. Phil over and over in the last 27 years, it’s this: “I’m a simple man.”
It took me two decades to finally get it. Over the years, I assumed he was more complicated than he actually was. I assumed he meant something he didn’t, either with his silence or his words. Basically, I just didn’t really get it. I didn’t understand how simple men can be.
Girls, men are just wired a little differently than we are.
