I get to
Sometimes, it's not the answer we want, but God does answer prayers. He answered one of mine yesterday, but I didn't see it in the moment. In fact, I didn't see it until this morning sometime, and here it is:
"Sometimes the circumstances we ask God to change are the very circumstances God is using to change us! Sometimes God delivers us from our problems, but sometimes God delivers us through them. And by God's grace, we become more like Christ in the process. No matter what challenge you face today, His grace is sufficient.
Mark Batterson
That's an e-mail I got for the prayer challenge and its' title was: Don't Pray Away
I mentioned to someone I was talking to last Sunday night on the phone that one of the things God told me a while ago was that He wasn't going to let me escape the consequences of some unfortunately horrible decisions I've made in my life. I'm paying more attention to that this morning. Because what dawned on me last night and this morning more-so is this:
I get to go through this. Notice the word: I didn't say I have to, or need to, and most definitely I didn't use the word "want". But I get to go through the things happening right now. I get to because it's what's happening now. There aren't reasons past that; save the ones I already know by heart. I can't escape the consequences of my own choices any longer; I need the experience to grow as a Christian; and it's what's best for me. And the most important reason is this:
It's for God's glory.
Sometimes I think I know better than God what that looks like. I think it would glorify God a ton to answer my prayers the way I want Him to. But one of us is God and it's most assuredly not yours truly.
So what I'm looking at, the things that upset me, the things I want so desperately to change and can't, well, they're things I get to experience. And often times, they're painful.
But altogether necessary. So my prayer now isn't so much seeing what God's doing, because He answered that:
He's leading me THROUGH this.
I'm asking Him now to give me the strength I need to follow.
"Sometimes the circumstances we ask God to change are the very circumstances God is using to change us! Sometimes God delivers us from our problems, but sometimes God delivers us through them. And by God's grace, we become more like Christ in the process. No matter what challenge you face today, His grace is sufficient.
Mark Batterson
That's an e-mail I got for the prayer challenge and its' title was: Don't Pray Away
I mentioned to someone I was talking to last Sunday night on the phone that one of the things God told me a while ago was that He wasn't going to let me escape the consequences of some unfortunately horrible decisions I've made in my life. I'm paying more attention to that this morning. Because what dawned on me last night and this morning more-so is this:
I get to go through this. Notice the word: I didn't say I have to, or need to, and most definitely I didn't use the word "want". But I get to go through the things happening right now. I get to because it's what's happening now. There aren't reasons past that; save the ones I already know by heart. I can't escape the consequences of my own choices any longer; I need the experience to grow as a Christian; and it's what's best for me. And the most important reason is this:
It's for God's glory.
Sometimes I think I know better than God what that looks like. I think it would glorify God a ton to answer my prayers the way I want Him to. But one of us is God and it's most assuredly not yours truly.
So what I'm looking at, the things that upset me, the things I want so desperately to change and can't, well, they're things I get to experience. And often times, they're painful.
But altogether necessary. So my prayer now isn't so much seeing what God's doing, because He answered that:
He's leading me THROUGH this.
I'm asking Him now to give me the strength I need to follow.
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