These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. – 1 John 1:4
When my wife, Lois, and I started dating, I came up with a strategy to encourage her to fall more in love with me. She was in love with me a lot from the beginning, but I wanted to increase that.
I decided to take her to the amusement park. Once we had wandered around the amusement park for a while and had enjoyed some of the games and food, I casually asked her if she wanted to ride the Wild Mouse. Lois had never been on the Wild Mouse ride, but I had. I knew how wild the Wild Mouse really was. She didn’t have any idea because it looked like an innocent ride.
I knew Lois’s personality and that going on the Wild Mouse would be a tough situation for her, but I hadn’t told her that. I had only mentioned that we should go on a nice ride together, so we did. The Wild Mouse began to shoot out as if our small car was going to fly right off of the edge of the track. Lois screamed. Then she scooted closer to me. Our car veered to the right and then shot out again as if we were going to zoom straight out into midair. Lois screamed again. Then she scooted even closer to me. By the end of the ride, Lois was sitting as close to me as she could.
Mission accomplished. I had wanted Lois to sit closer all along.
Sometimes God puts us on a wild ride. Life seems to be out of our control. At times, God allows these situations because He knows they will move us closer to Him, and when we do, we discover that He is more than we ever imagined Him to be. Our love for Him will increase…just as Lois’s did for me.
