No, Lord! That is NOT what I want!

How many of you have felt that God is just not answering your prayers, or that He is giving you things and answers that you do not want in your life? Have any of you ever listened to someone preach God's word, looked at someone who appears truly happy all the time, or just been really put-down by someone's stable life? I have.

A few days ago I went out and got the 10th American Idols' CD (Scotty McCreery). Now, if any of you followed Idols this year (2011), you will know that Scotty is a strong believer of Christ. He loves his parents and lives a really down-to-earth life. He really is a happy fellow - it's so clear to see it on his face.

He sings a few songs that really tug at my heart. At first I thought I had this huge, undeniable crush on him - I even joked with my mom that if I met him today, and he asked me to marry him tomorrow, I'd say yes (Hey, we all have silly dreams sometimes!)

Just yesterday (16 Dec 2011), I drove out to see my dad at work (he works about 36km from home). On my way to see him, I cried while listening to Scotty's music. I've been riddled with these feelings inside of me for days now, and all the time while speaking with my dad, I couldn't get dearest Scotty off of my mind.

When my dad walked me to the car, I was excited to hear Scotty's voice, and eagerly drove away, turning up the volume full-blast. I sang along, and just concentrated on his words. Here are some sections of lyrics that mean a lot to me:

Water Tower Town
In a water tower town everybody waves,
Church doors are the only thing that's open on Sundays
Word travels fast, wheels turn slow
Yeah workin' hard and livin' right is the only life we know

Friday night football is king
Sweet tea goes good with anything
The fireflies come out when the sun goes down.
Nobody eats 'til you say amen
And everybody knows your mom and them
You can see who loves who for miles around
In a water tower town.

Where your friend's a friend and your word's your word
And our pickup trucks, they ain't for looks, they're made for work
Corn grows high, crime stays low
There's little towns everywhere where everybody knows

Dirty Dishes

Mama hollers "Supper time,
And don't make me tell you twice
Wash your hands and wipe your face.
The table's no place for your toys,
And try to use your inside voice,
Don't dig in 'til we say Grace."
So we put down our forks and bowed our heads
And then she prayed the strangest prayer ever said:

"I wanna thank You Lord,
For noisy children and slamming doors,
And clothes scattered all over the floor,
A husband workin' all the time,
Draggin' in dead tired at night,
My never ending messy kitchen
And dirty dishes."

We all got real still and quiet,
And daddy asked "Honey, you alright?"
She said, "There ain't nothing wrong,
Noisy kids are happy kids,
And slamming doors just means we live,
In a warm and loving home,
Your long hours and those dishes in the sink,
Means a job and enough to eat.

So I'm gonna thank You Lord,
For noisy children and slamming doors,
And clothes scattered all over the floor,
A husband workin' all the time,
Draggin' in dead tired at night,
My never ending messy kitchen

For my little busy bees
Beggin' mama, mama can you please?
Always wantin' me and callin' me
Loads of laundry pilin' up
Crayons crushed into the rug
In those little sticky kisses
And dirty dishes,
And dirty dishes..."

Back on the Ground

I dropped by to check on mama for a minute,
I could hear her humming a tune through the screen door in the kitchen
She was puttin' the final touches on a homemade pecan pie
And just like always I was right on time

Little game of guess-who and I got a hug and "how's my baby"
I said, "You know me mama I've been hittin' it hard, runnin' like crazy
But I don't wanna bore you with that same old nothing's new,
I'd rather just pull up this chair and get caught up on you"

Ain't it funny how it all comes back around,
I remember when I couldn't wait to get out of her hair and ditch this town.
I was restless a time to move on,
Now it's any reason to go back home,
That's what's it all about,
Yeah, I'm just slowin' down,
To get my feet back on the ground.

That minute turned into an hour 'fore I knew it
And I got my fill on pie and how everybody's doing
I used to look for every reason in the world to hit that door
And she said, "You want another cup of coffee?"
I said, "Yeah, I'll take one more"

Ain't it funny how it all comes back around,
I remember when I couldn't wait to get out of her hair and ditch this town.
I was restless and time to move on,
Now it's any reason to go back home,
That's what's it all about,
Yeah, I'm just slowin' down,
To get my feet back on the ground.

And now, I can't go too many days without
Checkin' in, just touchin' base, and just slowin' down
Back on the ground.
I dropped by to check on mama, for a minute...

The Old King James

Preacher gave it to him when he was eight,
That Sunday morning he got saved in that little church
Grandaddy totted it to Bible school
I bet back then it looked brand new, not a faded word
Now the cover's torn and the leather's worn... on that Old King James

He took it with him overseas, England, France and Germany
Right there in the middle of hell
Said he read it every night, he swore that it'd saved his life
His only hope when there was no hope left
Was in that Old King James

Passed it down to Momma on the day he died
Sat there for the longest time just gathering the dust
But when life would take a sharp turn every now and then
And she would just start missing him, I'd see her pick it up
Now the cover's torn and the leather's worn... on that Old King James

You'll find on every other page, yellow lines or tear drop stains
Every chapter of that good book
Been through cancer, war and crazy kids, all the stupid things I did
I may never know the toll I took... on her and that Old King James

Yeah I'm the one who's got it now,
She said read it when you're feeling down and I said, "Yes Ma'am"
Now the cover's torn and the leather's worn... on that Old King James.

And then I realised ... I'm not in love with this young man, as much as I am in love with his life. But why am I in love with his life? Simple: The center of his life is Jesus Christ, our one and only Living God. He is happy with what he has, and truly loves his family. He knows that it is only God who can carry him through the tough times. That's what I can gather from his music, at least.

God started speaking to me, and told me that if I'd keep my eyes truly centered on Him, that I would want the same things that He wants for me. That automatically, His plans would somehow just be our perfect dream. We end up wondering why our lives are tough, and why things just never seem to go right, why we are being "attacked" left, right and center, why we just can't seem to be happy as often as we'd hope. The answer to why this happens truly is as simple as finding your center - God. We have our own ideas and often look to God to make our lives work the way WE want it to, but He never promised to give us anything that would be bad for us (and let's face it, if He's denying us something, then it probably wouldn't be very good for us, or it's just too soon in our lives for that specific answer.)

If we can all make God our number 1 priority, and live our lives centered on Him, then I can assure you that things will automatically begin to fall into place. If we make God our first priority, we'll see that all else is secondary, and taken care of. Let Him be your best friend, your confidante, your shelter, your source of unconditional love, your stronghold, your shoulder to cry on and your compass, and be sure that through your faith, He will make you a truly happy and blessed young lady (or young man, if any one here shares this with a brother or friend, etc.)

Hope this means something to you* Always know that you are God's priority all the time, no matter what!

Lots of love

Allie