A young woman in prison wrote me the following story:

My life was like a bottle. I always thought I was going to be something special. Maybe I'd be used to hold some costly medicine, or I might be used as a fine vase on some rich person's table. But I ended up just a plain green bottle sent down a conveyor belt and filled with cheap wine.

Sometimes Bible verses become so familiar that we gloss over them without applying them in a practical way to our lives. Isaiah 9:6 is one of those.

While I am convinced that every one of us is here on earth for a reason—that each of us is created for a purpose, whenever I speak on this subject, inevitably the question comes up, "But what about people with disabilities? How can they ever attain their purpose? Did God make a mistake when He made them?"

When I was growing up, we used to sing a country Gospel song that went,

"Farther along we'll know all about it,

Farther along we'll understand why."

Sometimes when we pray, we sense the presence of God in the room with us. Other times God seems so very far away. Somebody quipped, "If God seems far away from you, guess who moved!" But I don't think that is necessarily true. That would be tantamount to asserting that if you can't "feel" God's presence, then He must not be there.

One of the reasons the book of Psalms in the Bible appeals to us is that the writings touch on experiences common to all of us. In the Psalms you find the entire range of human emotion--thankfulness, anger, love, hatred, joy, and more.

The prayer of a person going through very difficult times has been turned into a song by Margaret Becker and Keith Getty. Here are the words:

Jesus, draw me ever nearer

As I labor through the storm;

You have called me to this passage,

And I'll follow, though I'm worn.

Two times someone asked Jesus the question, "Don't you care?"

            The first took place on the Sea of Galilee when an angry squall came up. Waves began to break over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. During all of this Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the back of the boat. The disciples woke

Him. "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Jesus "got up…and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' …and it was completely calm" (Mark 4:38-39).