The Fish Bowl of Life

Did/Do you ever feel like you were just a fish in a fish bowl? If you have/do, you are right. We are kinda like the fish in the fish bowl of life. We can’t really see the big picture, we can only see what is right in front of us right now. God is our caretaker. He feeds us each day, cleans our environment, and gives us all that we will ever need. So why is it we sometimes feel like pushing the limits and jumping out of our fish bowl? Maybe because we forget how powerful He is and how weak we are. Perhaps it’s because we think we know better. Or maybe, just maybe, we forget that He really does have our best interest in mind. He isn’t sitting up there on His throne rubbing his hands together with an evil eye and sending trials our way. He is sitting up there lovingly waiting, anticipating the excitement and joy we will find when we put our trust in Him and wait for His perfect timing.

There are times as we travel through the journey of having a family, that we don’t understand why we have to struggle. There is no reason before me now that will explain away the anger and frustration that we feel as we trod down this path of trying to conceive. There are so many questions we could ask. Why doesn’t our insurance cover this procedure? Why don’t all doctors accept all insurances? Why are things taking so long? Why don’t the people who are supposed to be helping us act as if they are interested in our case? Why can’t this be happening to someone else instead of us? Why is it so hard? So many unanswered questions. The truth is, it is happening to others, many others, even in our close group of friends… my sister, my best friend, and two other girlfriends. They are all struggling with the same thing. That is when it hits me. How faithful He is to place in my path other women who are dealing with the same thing. He has placed in my life members of our church who are prayer warriors. People who surround us with love and prayers and a genuine desire to see our family grow.

So, it is with great hope that we not ask “Why” questions, but instead ask “What are we supposed to learn?” or “How can we be used?” The answers. We are learning to trust in Him. We are understanding the meaning of His Perfect Timing, we are pressing on towards the goal, knowing that the end result, baby or not, will outweigh the trials. We still get frustrated, we still get angry, we still feel defeated at times, but each day we are renewed by the fact that we don’t need to see the big picture, He has it under control, and encouraged by the promise, that all things are beautiful in His time. Things may not go our way, but we will still rejoice! Yes, for now, we are happy to sit back and enjoy our little fish bowl of life.

Habakkuk 3:17 “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls- Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”