Think a minute…Remember Christopher Columbus? The bold explorer from Europe who intended to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to find Asia but failed. Well, he didn’t fail completely. Instead of Asia he found the New World, now called America.  

Louis Pasteur was looking for a way to keep wine from turning sour, but instead he found a way to kill the dangerous bacteria in milk. His process of pasteurization has made milk safer to drink for millions around the world.   

Willhelm Roentgen was working on a way to improve photography, but instead he found the way to make X-Rays, which has enabled doctors to save millions of lives and limbs.

How many times have you really wanted something and did not get it, but instead you ended up getting something just as good or even better! So in the end, you were actually happy and thankful you did not get what you first wanted. 

Someone once said:  “When God wants to curse us, He gives us what we want.” The fact is we often want things that are not good for us, things that in the end will make us and our family unhappy. Our problem is that we simply do not know and understand it yet. It is because God loves us so much that He tries to protect us from our own wrong desires—so He does not always give us what we want. Then there other times we want things that are actually good and we still do not get them. We may feel disappointed, confused or angry. But then God surprises us by giving us something even better and more lasting! 

This short poem explains God’s wisdom in responding to our desires and prayers:

When our request is not right, God says no. 

When the timing is not right, God says slow.

When we are not right, God says grow. 

But when all these are right, God says go. 

Remember, since our Maker designed and created us, He knows much better than we do what will fully satisfy us and give us His true success. He created us to enjoy happiness that lasts both for this lifetime and the next. This is why asking Him to take charge of your life and living His way every day is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smartest thing you can ever do. So once and for all, won’t you decide to start following Jesus every day, for the rest of your life? Just think a minute…