READ: GENESIS 50:15-20; ROMANS 15:23-24; EPHESIANS 1:1-2; 6:19-20

Life as he knew it was over. His most precious possession was out of reach. Impossible to retrieve. He lay on the floor, nose touching the ground, limbs outspread in utter dejection. He was eighteen months old, and his red ball had rolled behind the sofa.

She was eighteen years old, and the college she wanted to go to had accepted her. But her estranged father wouldn’t pay for a private school. Her hard-working mother couldn’t. She sat on the sofa, tears running down her cheeks.

He was old. Near the end of his life. He had always wanted to go to Spain. Plant new churches. Tell the good news to people who had not yet heard. Yet here he was under house arrest in Rome. How could he accomplish his dreams when his movements were so limited? Paul picked up a pen. “To God’s holy people in Ephesus…” Perhaps a few people would read the letter he wrote.

No matter your age, life can have its disappointments. If Paul had been free to do more traveling, he might have touched hundreds of lives. Because he couldn’t travel, he wrote letters, often with help from others. Letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, and Philemon. Instead of words that might be heard by hundreds in the first century A.D., he wrote words that would be read by millions or even billions over many centuries. Words that would change hearts and minds. Even today. Even in parts of the world unknown in Paul’s time.

God, in His infinite wisdom, doesn’t always give us what we ask for. Has God said “no” to some of your requests? Maybe you didn’t make the team. Or get a part in the play. Or get accepted into the school you really wanted to attend. God always listens to our prayers. But sometimes He has a better plan. Be open to His leading. • Carol Raj

• Can you think of a time when you didn’t get something you wanted, but later you were grateful for how things turned out? Consider taking a moment to thank God for this.

• As Christians, we trust God with our eternal salvation, believing that Jesus’s death and resurrection has made the way for us to be forgiven and be with God forever. Yet, sometimes it feels so hard to trust Him with our desires. Remember, Jesus cares about our longings. He holds us and weeps with us in our pain. And when He returns, our every desire will be fulfilled. How could these truths help us draw near to Jesus in times of disappointment or suffering?

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)