The job of a bellhop is to help you with your baggage; to "jump" into action upon receiving instructions. Have you ever treated God like a celestial bellhop? I know I have. Years ago, my pastor preached a sermon on this very thing. How we expect God to jump immediately and deliver on our requests. After all, that's what He's supposed to do--act when we call, right? Not! At that time in my life, I felt that God was late delivering on too many occasions, and sometimes didn't show up at all. While I recognized that "no" and "not now" are answers, they weren't acceptable to me. Wasn't I supposed to "ask, believe, and receive"? I hadn't paid attention that what I was requesting had to be in accordance with God's will. It was all about my will. Well, I don't need to tell you how that turned out, do I?
Now I've lived long enough and had enough life experiences to be thankful for many of the times God didn't grant my requests. Have you learned the value of being thankful for the prayers that weren't answered in the way you requested? I have been in situations when I realized that had I gotten what I asked for in the past, I would have missed out on something better. I've also been in situations where I realized I was saved from disaster by not getting what I asked for. Talk about dodging bullets! I can laugh about those things now with a sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong, though, there are still times when I'm disappointed in the absence of an immediate answer that's in accordance with my will--especially if I lose a loved one, an opportunity, or have additional health challenges. But I'm learning to accept that it's not for me to know why God allows things to happen. I can only trust that whatever the reason, it's according to His plan. While I can only see today from my limited perspective, God sees today and tomorrow from a total perspective. So I try hard to look for something positive in each situation. For example, with my health, although I haven't been healed physically, I have been healed in other ways. That's a blessing.
There was a time when I truly believed I was the architect of my life. Yes, I have free will, and am able to do many of the things I want to do. But I believe we're each on this earth to serve a greater purpose than ourselves. If I'm living according to God's will for my life, that makes me an apprentice carrying out the plans of the Master Architect. With this understanding, the best I can do is get with the program and jump to it. Turns out I'm the bellhop!
Now I've lived long enough and had enough life experiences to be thankful for many of the times God didn't grant my requests. Have you learned the value of being thankful for the prayers that weren't answered in the way you requested? I have been in situations when I realized that had I gotten what I asked for in the past, I would have missed out on something better. I've also been in situations where I realized I was saved from disaster by not getting what I asked for. Talk about dodging bullets! I can laugh about those things now with a sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong, though, there are still times when I'm disappointed in the absence of an immediate answer that's in accordance with my will--especially if I lose a loved one, an opportunity, or have additional health challenges. But I'm learning to accept that it's not for me to know why God allows things to happen. I can only trust that whatever the reason, it's according to His plan. While I can only see today from my limited perspective, God sees today and tomorrow from a total perspective. So I try hard to look for something positive in each situation. For example, with my health, although I haven't been healed physically, I have been healed in other ways. That's a blessing.
There was a time when I truly believed I was the architect of my life. Yes, I have free will, and am able to do many of the things I want to do. But I believe we're each on this earth to serve a greater purpose than ourselves. If I'm living according to God's will for my life, that makes me an apprentice carrying out the plans of the Master Architect. With this understanding, the best I can do is get with the program and jump to it. Turns out I'm the bellhop!
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