The year is 2009 or 2010 and I’m
NEEDING a full-time permanent job—like pronto! Everyone around me seemed to
have (or almost have) their lives together. They’ve all either started their
careers, or are enroute to starting their careers (i.e. school), whilst I’m
over here with no REAL clue as to what I’m doing, what I want to do, where I’m
going, and how I’m going to get there. I mean, come on! I’ve gone through A YEAR straight
of searching for work without being able to obtain a SINGLE position… and to make matters worse I dropped out of school.
Having to run into and catch up with
anyone from my past was absolutely daunting! Why? Because they would ALWAYS ask that same intentional question.
Them: “So, what’s new? What have you been up to?” (a.k.a. I kind of want
to brag, compare, and contrast how SUCCESSFUL my life is in relation
to yours…head tilt, smiley face, ding!)
Me: “NOTHING!... I’m doing absolutely NOTHING!—argh!” ðŸ˜
In all seriousness my response was
always something like this:
Me: “Honestly, whatever is new with me is something I’ve already
become accustomed to, so I wouldn’t know where to start! Ha—ha—ha...”
To divert—and I’m REALLY great at
diverting—I quickly squeeze in “sooo, what’s going on with you?! we haven’t
seen each other in like, forevarrrr!”. 😅 Of course
they’re always eager and excited to begin talking about themselves, so
diversion was a complete success!
Eventually, after hearing so many
success stories, you begin to wonder about your own. I reckoned that if I could
simply find a full-time permanent position in a bank or business office I’d be
set. I would simply grow within the organization and that is that! The problem,
though, was getting my foot through the door. Sure I had a solid amount of
clerical and customer service experience…I even landed some interviews… but
nothing.
I then decided to turn to God.
Whenever I saw a position I thought
would be absolutely PERFECT, I prayed earnestly and
fervently for it. I believed that God had THIS position—whatever position it
was—specifically for me.
Days, weeks, and eventually months
would pass by, and still there were NO answered prayers.
I became upset! I began to doubt the
power of my prayers and didn’t understand what God was waiting for. Others
prayed for whatever they desired and received it, so what was wrong with me?!
Did I just suck? Was I being punished? God answered my small prayers, why
wasn’t He answering the prayers that were most important to me? Is He even
there? Is He listening? Does He even care? Eventually, out of desperation,
confusion, and frustration, I just GAVE UP and accepted a part-time position I wasn’t very happy with.
Sometimes we have sincere requests that
we bring forward to God, and then when we receive a moment of silence, we
assume that this silence means no, or that God is ignoring us, or that perhaps
we’re praying incorrectly. But,
God says “it shall come to pass, that BEFORE they call, I will ANSWER, and while they are yet
speaking, I will HEAR, Isaiah 56:24. His word
also says, evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry out aloud and
He shall HEAR my voice, psalm 55:17. There are numerous amounts of scriptures
that supports the promise that God does INDEED hear us and He WILL answer. God says that He magnifies His word
above His name, psalm 138:2. This is POWERFUL because if God says He will do something, it.is.done!
Now, if we KNOW that He HEARS us in
whatever we ask, we KNOW that we have the requests which we have asked of Him. 1John 5:15.
So let’s continue the story shall we?
Anyway, I took what I considered to be
a LAME part-time
position at a retail store…I didn’t even want it…but weirdly enough I landed
the job on the spot, so I figured this is what God wanted. Fast-forwarding
through the story, I discovered the reason God placed me there was for the
purpose of planting seeds and reaching a soul that He had really been
impressing upon. After she decided to quit, I had a STRONG inclination
that my job there was finished, and it was time for me to move on. I needed to
do something more constructive with my life, I needed to make more money, and
was persuaded to try school again. So, at the last minute I sent in an
application for school into a competitive program, and said to God,
“If this is YOUR will, you
will get me in.”
Without having another job to go to, I
picked up and quit. (WARNING* ✋ I could be very
impulsive, this does NOT work for everyone, please weigh your own situation).
I strongly trusted and had faith that
God would come through for me and that it was time. A month later, I landed a
full-time permanent position with huge potential for growth, making more money.
Yay right?... Here’s where things get a little interesting. A month after I
obtained the new job, I was accepted into the competitive program I applied for
earlier. I was shocked! (This is another testimony for another time). In order
to secure my spot within the program, I needed to pay a significant amount of
money, which, without THIS position, I would NOT have been able to pay
for.
💨Fast-forward, it’s my last year within the program and in order to
do well in my field I require higher education (i.e. Bachelor Degree). It is SUPERRR competitive
to get into this particular program within the city with TWO schools
being MY only options. As was my custom, I sought God saying,
“Lord, YOU brought me
here, and you see I need and want to go forward. If it Is YOUR will, you
will get me in”.
Sure enough, He got me in! I was 1 of
90 applicants who were accepted into the program out of the THOUSANDS who
applied each year.
Now, I have the ability and flexibility to work almost
anywhere (i.e. hospitals, schools, government, courtrooms, clinics, etc.) in ANY city or
country I choose!
The moral of the story is this, though
I may have felt like I was being ignored, God HEARD my prayers. In this scenario, His answer to my prayer was no, but
He had something WAY better for me than I could’ve ever had for myself. What I needed
to do, was develop patience, trust, faith, and perseverance. I needed to be
still and WAIT. He had work for me to do,
and a path for me to take before He could bless me.
I believe God answers in 3 ways:
1. Yes
(immediately granted)
2. No (I have something better)
3. Wait (yes, but I need you to be patient a while longer)
It is very imperative that we understand,
however, that God is not a genie. Sometimes we ask for things and the answer is
indeed a no, simply because God sees the dangers in
our requests. God said, “If ye
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Matthew 7:11. Like our parents, our Heavenly Father’s first priority is to save
and protect us. We can, however, rest assured that should the answer be no, God
ALWAYS provides a better alternative, NEVER does He leave an answer at just no.
Every so often the answer is yes, but
you have to WAIT! Sometimes God has a work
to do within us, or paths that we must first take before we’re ready to receive
the blessing (i.e. our requests). Remember the story of Hannah in 1Samuel 1?
Year after year Hannah sought God
weeping sorely. Eventually, at the appointed time, God gave her the
desire of her heart and blessed her with a son whom she named Samuel.
What about the story of Lazarus in John
11? Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus asking that He come to heal Lazarus. But
what happened? Lazarus was dead 4 daysss before Jesus came through for them and
resurrected him from the dead. The point is this, God heard, and no matter how
long it took, He still came through!
Did we forget Abraham and Sarah? God
promised to give them a child, even in their old age. Though they waited many
years before conceiving a child, God surely honored His word and blessed them
with Isaac as promised. But what happened before Sarah finally conceived a
child of her own? Out of disbelief and impatience, she decided to take things
into her OWN hands and insisted that Abraham sleep with her handmaid Hagar, who
bared them a son name Ishmael. The consequence of that disobedience has led to
the continued wars between Israel and the Islamic nations today.
This is why it’s so important that like
Hannah, when going before God with our requests and waiting on His response, we
acquire patience, perseverance, faith, trust and persistence (all fruits of the
spirit).
God may not answer our prayers in the
way we expect it, nor at the time we want it, but we can rest assured that God
is NOT slack
concerning His promises, 2Peter 3:9. He Will answer our prayers, and if we
surrender our will to His will, whatever form He chooses to answer our prayers
in, will prove to be perfect timing, and the answered blessing will be an
absolute gem!
Let’s pray J
Dear God,
Please increase our faith. Help us to
trust and know that you hear and will answer our prayers. Help us to be
patient, persevering, and persistent knowing that because you are not slack
concerning your promises, you will indeed come through for us as promised. Help
us to accept and truly be satisfied with the answers you have for us. Let YOUR
will be done. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Thanks for viewing, hope you were
blessed!
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Until next time, Happy Growing! And in
all things be still…
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