Do read all the way till the end. During a war, a soldier was separated from his unit. The fighting was intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades. Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realised that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.
As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trustyou. Amen." After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn 't going to help me out of this one. " Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave. As he watched, listening to the enemv searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave. "Hah, " he thought. "What I need is a brick waO and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humour!" faithful As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realised that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. "Lord, forgive me, " prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall." This is not the story of faith and doubt' of that soldier alone. It is the reality of so many people, who in the name of faith have so much doubt. But where there is doubt, there can never be faith. In faith, there are no wrongs. In faith, everything is right. In faith, even wrong is right. A man of faith believes, "His ways are His ways. So, let me accept it whole-heartedly. Let me accept his grace gracefully." His ways are beyond human comprehension. It is my inability that I don't understand the way He functions and carries me through. It is my immaturity not to gracefully accept the consequences of life when they are not in expected lines. In fact every time I cry out of pain patienth: I in life, it only means I don't have faith in Him and the pain is due to my immaturity in not understanding His ways. A family was on their way to the railway station to catch a train to Delhi. They were taking a holiday to the northern part of India. They got stuck in the traffic jam. Initially they cursed the traffic. Then they were vindictive of each other for taking so much time to get ready. Very soon they got into prayer mood, praying for the traffic to clear, or at least the train should start late. But it seems like god was in no mood to help. Helplessly they drove back home because the train had already departed. Every one was depressed because it was their first trip as a family. In the midst of uncomfortable silence suddenly news was received that the train bound for New Delhi had derailed and it was a major accident. The silence grew deeper; eyes became moist, hands joined together, but this time to thank that force. His ways are His ways. My prayers of request are always answered; only thing is I don't have the maturity to understand them, for they may not be answered in the ways I want. With all the experiences we go through in life, if we introspect, we will realise that our prayers are answered. Dada J P Vaswani says, all our prayers are answered in one of the four following ways: Firstly, He says 'Yes' my child, I grant your request. Secondly, He says 'No' my child you don't need it. If my child requests me to give him a knife or matchbox to play with, I as a father choose not to give. Thirdly, He says 'Wait' my child -it is not the right time. If my six-year-old son requests me to let him drive my bike, I would ask him to wait for another twelve years. And that's good for him. Fourthly, He says 'I have something better for you'. God upsets my plans because He has better plans for me and His plans are always right. You ask for a brick-wall, but find a spider's web that saves your life. When my prayers are answered in the affirmation I become happy and grateful, but the challenge is in maturing in faith to accept the next three. This is exactly where my faith is tested. Everyone who says he lives in faith will be repeatedly tested. There is nothing called 'unqualified' faith. Your faith will always be qualified. Ultimately these tests only deepen your faith in your lord. You need to accept everything with the same grace because the force, which gave you the first, is also giving you the next three. Patience is required to be qualified in faith. Patience with faith will help you realise, "He knows when to give, where to give, whom to give, what to give, how to give and how much to give." Patience with family is love. Patience with others is respect. Patience with self is confidence. Patience with god is faith. -- Subscription settings: http://groups.google.com/group/saimsg/subscribe?hl=en
