This is a guest post written by Katie Hawks.
When I was a little girl, I thought that my brother, Patrick, was the coolest thing since the bumblebee.
But I was terrified of him.
Since I was so small, he could do crazy things with me. He would pick me up and flip me around.
He would put me on his shoulders and carry me around the house so high that I would almost hit the top of doorways. He would put me upside down over his shoulder and carry me around like “a sack of feed”.
Being a little girl, when he did these things I would scream my head off. I would pound at him with my little fists and cry and try to make him stop. Do you know how disconcerting it is to be upside down in the arms of someone that you don’t completely trust?
When he finally put me down, I would run away and cry.
Now, looking back on those experiences, I realize that I really loved screwing around with Pat like that. I just liked being in his arms…even if I was upside down. Those times were the times when I was closest to my brother.
It’s kind of like life. Sometimes we go through things that are rocky, and hard, and uncertain. We experience pain and confusion and we’re wondering, “Why would God do this to me?”
Maybe those are the times when we can be really close to the God that loves us.