Is God too busy?

"And I know in the big picture
I'm just a speck of sand
and God's got better things to do
than look out for one man.
I know he's heard my prayers
cause he hears everything,
he just ain't answered back
or he'd bring you back to me.
God must be busy."

(lyrics from God Must Be Busy

by Brooks and Dunn)

How often do these very lyrics hit close to home? How often do we feel that God might just be too busy for us? When you are experiencing a pain that seems almost unbearable, and you wonder "why?" When you feel completely alone and broken, and as if God is absent. When life seems to be too much, and you find yourself asking when will it end.

I've experienced seasons of my life when the pain and suffering was so intense I wondered why God would let this happen to me. Why God would let us go through seasons of such excrutiating pain. If God truly cared, why isn't He stepping in and helping.

Sometimes it's hard to see past the pain--to realize that the journey is what builds us; makes us stronger. That God truly is walking beside us through the lowest points of our lives, but allows us to make it on our own. I liken it to a child learning to ride a bike. Eventually, you just have to let them go. You never really leave them, you're just running behind them. Even if they don't realize you are still there, you are. And by being allowed to ride, and fall, on their, they become a stronger person. There is a much more important reason for being allowed to experience the freedom and the pain.

There have been a few pivotal points in my life where I could have let the pain destroy me. I chose to not give up. I pushed through the pain - through the suffering. And it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I never realized just how God could use my past pain until a few nights ago.

A friend of mine opened up to me about the deep pain she has been holding inside. The sadness was evident. And the odd thing was that the pain I triumphed over, the pain that grew me into the person I am today, is the same pain she is currently living through.

Because of my past suffering, I can encourage her in a way few others probably can. I had been there. I understood.

I don't believe God ignores us.

I don't believe God doesn't love us.

And I don't believe God is ever too busy.

I just believe God is letting go of the bike.