Lessons I Learned From God

Lesson #1
Self-Preservation
The Lesson:
I was extremely young when God taught me my first lesson. At least, it’s the first lesson I can remember. I don’t know exactly how old I was then, but I’m thinking maybe I was just a toddler. I wasn’t old enough to go to school and I hadn’t learned any big words yet. My first lesson was very, very short. It consisted of one really big word and the definition of that word. God taught me the word self-preservation and its meaning. Hey, for a toddler this word is enormous!
Self-preservation: the preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.
The Evaluation:
God had given me a helping word-a word that will serve me well throughout my entire life on Earth. God knew my path would be a difficult one, in which I would encounter many obstacles that would include relationships with many different people. I would need a flotation device to keep me afloat. I could give of myself to others only so much. When it becomes too much, that it is sucking the life right out of me, or others start to take me down with them on their path of self-destruction, it’s time to step back temporarily and recharge or even walk away permanently.

God helped me to understand that sometimes relationships with some people can literally be like being with someone on a sinking ship. These types of relationships could include your sibling, spouse, parent, neighbor, co-worker, etc. Their lives are so messed up, broken, just like the sinking boat. They keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Their boat keeps taking on water. You throw them life jacket after life jacket until you are exhausted, hoping they will finally catch one. Some people will eventually get it. And sometimes it doesn’t matter how many life preservers you throw some people, because they are just going to keep missing them. And then there are those that it wouldn’t make a difference anyway because they have no intentions of putting the life jacket on if they did catch one. They would rather stay on board their sinking ship and have you go under with them. You know the saying “Misery loves company?”
You have to know when to take a break from throwing those life preservers and rest before you start tossing those rings again. Also, you have to know when enough is enough and it’s time to abandoned that person and their ship altogether and head for the life boat.
When you take a water life-saving course for becoming a lifeguard, the first concept that is taught is to never jump in the water yourself to save someone who is drowning. You should only jump in the water as a last resort. The reason being is because the person that is drowning will push you under the water and drown you in an attempt to save their life. Your primary course of action should be to assess the situation. Next you start throwing the drowning victim anything that floats. What you are really doing is helping them to help themselves. Take a brief moment and reassess the situation. Is it working? Are they trying to help themselves? Do they really want to be saved? Or do they want to take you down too?
You can’t make someone change. Only that person can change their own self. If they don’t want to be saved, then you can’t help them. And it is one thing to help or to be of service to someone because you wish to, and it is another to be a servant constantly being used or a doormat for someone to repeatedly step on you.
I thank God for people who know when to jump off the sinking ship and on to the life boat and for having the courage to do it. I hate to think of what might have been if these people hadn’t taken that leap. Their previous relationship might have destroyed them had they stayed in it.
Just so you know, it’s okay with God to end a relationship with someone that is hurting you-or worse, destroying you, even if that means leaving that person or getting a divorce. God still loves us. God’s love is unconditional and He will not love us any less. God will always love us.
Looking back at all the relationships I’ve had since I was born, I see just how much I have learned from each one. From some relationships I have learned that I can. From others I have learned what not to do and how not to be. There were a few relationships that were on that path of self-destruction, but I knew when to step back and when to walk away. It was not okay to sit by passively and let someone else take my life from me. I also learned the difference between right and wrong and came to the conclusion that I don’t have to be like anyone else and that’s okay. It’s alright to just be me.
I keep God’s helping word in my spiritual backpack, so I always have it with me on my journey and I can pull it out whenever I need it. My spiritual backpack goes with me where ever I go, and every time I learn a lesson that lesson goes into the backpack, ready to retrieve at a moment’s notice. Take God’s helping word and make sure you keep it in your backpack. And don’t forget to take it with you on your own spiritually journey.
Self-preservation-the preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.
What I Learned:
#1 Self-preservation.
#2 God knows what we need.
#3 One lesson can help you get through many lessons.
#4 God does not want us to stay in a relationship that causes us harm or destruction.
#5 The purpose of our relationships is so that we may learn from them.
#6 I cannot let another take my life from me.
#7 God’s love is unconditional.
#8 It is okay to be me.

Lesson #2
Hope and Faith
The Lesson:
As a child I used to have a reoccurring dream. Each time the dream was exactly the same, nothing ever changed. In my dream God talked to me. His voice came from everywhere, every molecule. God revealed to me that one day I would be told that my father was going to die and there was nothing anyone could do. Then God said to me, “Never give up hope, have faith” and He showed me my father with a large scar. I call it the Frankenstein scar, because it resembled the one on the Frankenstein creature’s forehead in the old black and white movie. It’s a long line with several shorter lines going across it.
As the years went by, I grew up. I was maybe eighteen or nineteen when my father became very ill and was diagnosed with a rare type of leukemia nicknamed “Hairy Cell” leukemia. My dad was probably about forty-three at the time. The attending physician came to tell my family it was hopeless. He had conferred with other medical personnel, even physicians in other states and there was nothing they could do. They had heard about an experimental surgery, that had only been performed one time, on one man, but they ruled it out. The doctor proceeded to tell us there was nothing more they could do and my father was going to die. Then the doctor left the room.
As the tears started to flow, it suddenly came back to me, those words from God, “Never give up hope, have faith.” As I turned to my mother and sister who were gently crying beside me, I said, “He’s not going to die.” My mother asked me, “What did you say?” “He’s not going to die!” I replied. “How do you know?” “Because God told me this was going to happen. Oh, but they do have to perform the surgery.” And I conveyed to them what God had said. “Was there anything else?” my mother inquired. “Yes,” I replied and gave them a description of the scar. As I started to leave, my mother stopped me and asked where I was going. “Dad is going to be fine,” I said, “and I have to get to school because I’m late for my class.” And so, I left.
The surgery was a success and the patient was rapidly improving. My mother called me into the room with my father. “I want you to see something,” she said. She asked my father to open his pajama shirt, and there it was! The largest Frankenstein scar you ever saw! It ran down from his rib cage past his abdomen.
Many years have gone by since the surgery, but I have never forgotten the words God spoke to me. This year, we will celebrate my father’s seventy-ninth birthday.
The Evaluation:
Since God’s voice came from everywhere when He spoke to me, I know God is omnipotent. I realized then that God was everywhere and He is so much more than we believe Him to be. God is everywhere all the time, not just when we go to church. God never leaves us. It was not as if God just suddenly showed up. I felt that God had always been with me, quietly watching and guiding.
At the time I was having the dreams, I didn’t know that God was giving me a message I would one day need to deliver. And the purpose of the reoccurring dreams was so I wouldn’t forget His message since I was only a kid. After the doctor spoke to us, it all started to fit into place, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The scar God had shown me was very important. Without it, I wouldn’t have put two and two together and figured out that the scar was the result of the surgery. That’s why they needed to operate, whether it was experimental or not. And I would like to point out that God didn’t specifically say that my dad was to have surgery. He didn’t show me my father being operated on, either. What God did do was give me a clue to figure out. I had to connect the dots so-to-speak and, fortunately, I did (I would like to think that God would have nudged me a little harder had I not connected the dots). The clue was the scar which led me to deduce that it was the result of an operation, which directed me to tell my mother the doctor had to perform the surgery. With God’s help, my father and his doctors had helped pave the way to save others with “Hairy Cell” leukemia.
Are you getting this? Is anybody getting this? God wants us to think (“Think” is definitely one for the backpack)! Find the clues! Discover the answers! Our lives on Earth are pre-determined to an extent. Then God lets our free will determine the rest. I have this information from the best authority, God. I once asked God if we have free will or are our lives led by pre-determination. God replied, “Both.” I believe the pre-determined part helps keep us on track while we are making our spiritual journey, but there is no point in taking the exam if we are given all the answers.
“Hope” and “Faith” are definitely going in my spiritual backpack also. They are tools for survival I will need on my journey. Would you go on a trip without taking a suitcase full of things you will need? Don’t go on your spiritual journey without packing your bag first. Take with you what you will need to survive on your quest. Like any good parent, God does not send His children out into the world without giving them the supplies they will need. As His children, it is our responsibility to remember to take our spiritual backpack full of God’s goodies with us. God doesn’t want to hear, “Oh, I forgot!” when He went through all the trouble to help us pack.
What I learned:
#1 God is omnipotent.
#2 Everything God does has purpose or meaning.
#3 Think.
#4 Search for the truth and the answers will be given.
#5 We need doctors.
#6 Never give up hope.
#7 Have faith.
#8 If God gives you a message, deliver it.
#9 Never forget what God tells you, it just might help save someone’s life!
Repeating the lesson:
I’m sorry to say I didn’t retain the “Never give up hope” part of the “Hope and Faith” lesson and had to repeat that part of the lesson. After all, what good is gaining all this knowledge if we are just going to tuck it away in a closet somewhere in our brain and never use it? The following story is my repeat lesson:
It was a frigid, winter morning and the streets were covered with snow and ice. I was on my way to work when I came to a red traffic light. Slowly and gradually, I made my way until I came to a complete stop. There I sat waiting for the light to change when a terrible noise began, sending a chill down my spine. Looking in my rear view mirror, I could see a car sliding out of control on the ice. The car was headed straight for me and there was no place I could go. My car was completely boxed in from the surrounding cars. One car was in front of me, another behind me, and cars on both sides. As I glanced again in my mirror, I could see the look of fright in the driver’s face. There was nothing she could do to stop what was unfolding. Her car would soon plow into the car behind me crashing it into my car, and in turn, shoving my car into the one in front of me. The impact was imminent. It was hopeless!
So, I closed my eyes and began to pray. I gave my life to God to protect and keep safe. As I kept my eyes closed tight, I heard a loud “Bang!... Bang!... Bang!” along with the sound of crunching metal in between; but strangely, I never felt anything. Then everything was silent. It was over. I opened my eyes and got out of my car. Taking in a visual three hundred and sixty degrees of my surroundings, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The careening out of control vehicle (car #1) had slammed into the car behind me (car #2), shoving it into the car on the left side of me (car #3), which slid into the car in front of me (car #4). I had escaped untouched. There wasn’t a scratch on me or my car. Afterwards, I was asked to be a witness to the accident, but I couldn’t because I had kept my eyes closed while I was praying and never actually saw the accident occur.

The Evaluation:
Well, I had the “Faith” lesson down and applied what I had learned, but where was the hope? Hopeless? What? How soon we forget, or how soon I forgot! Didn’t God tell me to never give up hope? God didn’t tell me that just to learn and then forget it. Why didn’t I put “Hope” in my backpack like God wanted me to do? What He tells us should be retained and applied every day. We should use it in our day to day lives. And when I don’t learn the lesson, He keeps teaching me the same lesson with different situations, over and over and over again until I do get it. Sometimes I can be very stubborn, but I’ve finally learned this lesson and I am never going to forget “Hope” again.
What I learned:
#1 Never give up hope!
#2 With God, the impossible is possible!
#3 Retain the lessons learned and apply them every day.

Lesson #3
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
The Lesson:
It was almost Christmas Eve and I, along with my co-workers, had been working overtime every day, seven days a week for several weeks. On this particular day, I had gone to my grandparent’s house after work to clean. My grandparents were getting on up in years and once a week I would clean their house for them. Sitting on my grandmother’s dresser was a little card that read, “Ask and Ye shall receive.” As always, I picked up the card to dust under it. Only this time I decided I was going to ask and not only that, I was going to receive and I knew exactly what to ask for.
At work we had several single mothers, who desperately needed some time off to shop for Christmas presents for their children. Working overtime for our company was mandatory for everyone in our department, so there was no chance of anyone getting off before Christmas. I had even volunteered to work longer hours so at least one mother could leave early, but my plea fell on deaf ears. As I held the scripture card in my hand, I asked God to please let all the mothers get off work the next day, so they could purchase gifts for their children and everyone would have a wonderful Christmas morning. Then I continued to clean the rest of the house.
The next morning I went to work as usual. Shortly after I arrived, a couple of the moms were conversing with each other about how they would not be able to get their kids presents in time for Christmas. You have to remember, this was before stores stayed open twenty-four hours a day (plus these single mothers needed someone to watch their kids while they were gone, because the children were too young to stay home alone). I informed my co-workers that they didn’t need to worry, because we weren’t going to have to work that day. They asked me how I knew that and I filled them in on what I had asked God for the night before. No longer had I finished my words, when there was a loud “B-O-O-M!” outside. We all ran to the windows to see what had happened and found the transformer in front of our building had blown and caught fire, causing the power to go out in our three-story building. The fire department came and put out the fire, but the electrical company said it would take hours to restore power. H-O-L-I-D-A-Y! God gave the whole office the day off and everyone went shopping.
The Evaluation:
As I was replaying this story to a group from my church, one of the ladies pointed out that I had taken the “Ask and receive” a step further when I stated with assurance to my co-workers that what I asked for was going to happen. I remembered thinking when I picked up that little card on my grandmother’s dresser, if God wants us to ask then surely He will do as He says. I believed that God would do it. And you also have to believe without a shadow of doubt. Always remember to pack “Ask” and “Believe” in your spirit pack. This type of equipment or gear is imperative on a spiritual journey.
I have people tell me all the time that I can’t ask for this or I shouldn’t ask for that. And my reply to them is always, “Oh, but I can! I can ask for anything I want to! Who says I can’t ask for this? Where is it written that I can’t ask for that?” Jesus gave us God’s message, “Ask and Ye shall receive.” He didn’t give us any stipulations to go along with these instructions, like one can only ask for this and not for that. Then why do we bring it upon ourselves to decide what to ask for and what not to ask for? Why would God say it if He didn’t mean it? Don’t you think God means what He says?
I know I can ask for anything, all I have to do is ask.