Monday, January 05, 2009
Answered prayers
In a nutshell, I've had a significant answer to prayer on Sunday night. Rewind almost exactly a year ago. I've been wondering about God's will for my life as the end of my last entry mentions. If God wants me to go to Africa, I'll go. If He wants me to drive a bus, I'll drive. If He wants me to give [which He does], I'll give. The last I had heard from God was "Be still, and know that I am God."
It has been a bit of a challenge to be so revved up to do something and to be told, "Be still". That went against my desires. I felt like a new recruit all over again waiting to show my boss what I could do. But instead, I was 'being still'. Grrrrr. While waiting for God's specific will for my life to be made known, I'd been asked to be the Singles Sunday School teacher and leader. That was a task I quickly realized that I can't do without God's help (Phil 4:13).
It's required a level of discipline that I didn't have before. I thought that I really cared for the Singles in my class, but over the last few months, I've come to really care for them. A lot of them have also stepped up and helped out with many things since it's really a job for a couple.
But my fervent prayer continued, "Lord, what is your specific will for my life?" This was starting to fester, and to be honest, it was starting to distract me. This is mostly due to the fact that I know what MY will is, but I'm waiting on God because He told me to wait. Like a runner who doesn't leap out of the starting block after the gun has fired.
So, those have been my thoughts over the last year. Before this weekend, I started to blog that I was starting to think that God had sent me "two boats and a helicopter", but I wasn't seeing it. People had actually come up to me with specific information about what I had been praying for in private, and then they have been saying that "God is trying to tell you something, but you're not listening." That was frustrating.
So, here I was, Sunday night after service and I prayed my same prayer. And it hit me. Not the audible voice of God [which is what I'm really waiting for], but an assurance and an instruction... It said, "Be still and know that I am God."
That would drive any sane person mad, but for me, it's an answered prayer. He has a plan for me, but not yet. I've been told to wait [hopefully not much longer], and He will reveal His plan to me. In His time.
When God hands you sand, make sandcastles. What I mean is that when it's God's desire that you wait on His timing, you would do well to do things for the furtherance of His kingdom while you're waiting. Someday, God is going to check up on me to see what I've been doing with all this time and sand. I need to take what He gives me and be fruitful and wise.
As I travel this lonely dune, I pray that I'm not so consumed with "doing" that I loose track of who I'm doing it for. I pray that I recognize it when it comes, and I pray for the endurance to finish this journey well.
It has been a bit of a challenge to be so revved up to do something and to be told, "Be still". That went against my desires. I felt like a new recruit all over again waiting to show my boss what I could do. But instead, I was 'being still'. Grrrrr. While waiting for God's specific will for my life to be made known, I'd been asked to be the Singles Sunday School teacher and leader. That was a task I quickly realized that I can't do without God's help (Phil 4:13).
It's required a level of discipline that I didn't have before. I thought that I really cared for the Singles in my class, but over the last few months, I've come to really care for them. A lot of them have also stepped up and helped out with many things since it's really a job for a couple.
But my fervent prayer continued, "Lord, what is your specific will for my life?" This was starting to fester, and to be honest, it was starting to distract me. This is mostly due to the fact that I know what MY will is, but I'm waiting on God because He told me to wait. Like a runner who doesn't leap out of the starting block after the gun has fired.
So, those have been my thoughts over the last year. Before this weekend, I started to blog that I was starting to think that God had sent me "two boats and a helicopter", but I wasn't seeing it. People had actually come up to me with specific information about what I had been praying for in private, and then they have been saying that "God is trying to tell you something, but you're not listening." That was frustrating.
So, here I was, Sunday night after service and I prayed my same prayer. And it hit me. Not the audible voice of God [which is what I'm really waiting for], but an assurance and an instruction... It said, "Be still and know that I am God."
That would drive any sane person mad, but for me, it's an answered prayer. He has a plan for me, but not yet. I've been told to wait [hopefully not much longer], and He will reveal His plan to me. In His time.
When God hands you sand, make sandcastles. What I mean is that when it's God's desire that you wait on His timing, you would do well to do things for the furtherance of His kingdom while you're waiting. Someday, God is going to check up on me to see what I've been doing with all this time and sand. I need to take what He gives me and be fruitful and wise.
As I travel this lonely dune, I pray that I'm not so consumed with "doing" that I loose track of who I'm doing it for. I pray that I recognize it when it comes, and I pray for the endurance to finish this journey well.
