A Thought That Changed a Heart

I fell asleep late last night as I was in the middle of an SMS conversation with my friend Lala. I woke up next at around 5:30 A.M. to the call of the bathroom urinal. As I was heading down from the upper deck bunk bed where I slept, I glanced on the deck below and noticed one sister missing.

In my half-dazed, half-awake state, a sudden thought flashed through my mind. In the past few days, I had both been wishing and praying for my doctor-sister to take the job opening with Ten Knots at El Nido, Palawan. Aside from the fact that it would be a cool experience for her, it would also solve one of my three family relational problems. But as that unbidden thought dawned on my still partially snoozing cerebral cortex, I changed my mind about her taking on that job.

What was the thought that just sprung up out of nowhere? That if my sister leaves for Palawan, it may be a good thing for her experientially and financially, but spiritually it may actually be a tragic thing. Why tragic? Because the sheer distance alone would cut off all her ties with my parents–and they appear to be her only remaining spiritual influences left. Compound distance with the fact that cellphones are completely useless on El Nido Resorts' islands, too. (My sister said you'd have to go to the town of El Nido to get some signal–not sure what service provider). 

Of course, I could be wrong. Spiritually speaking, that may even be the best experience for her–to be out there on her own with just the few people on the resort, the stunningly beautiful piece of creation, and her Creator-God.

At any rate, that first particular thought changed my mind and changed my prayer as well. Now, I don't pray for God to take her somewhere else for financial reasons nor for my "convenience" alone. I ask Him to take her where He can most easily reach her and where it will be most spiritually beneficial for her to go.

I thank God for that sudden burst of thought so early in the morning. It reminded me that God's objective is not to make us temporarily happy as we live life here on earth. Neither is it to give us a comfortable life.

His ultimate objective is to get us saved so we could live with Him eternally happy in Heaven.