Trusting the Process

Have you ever pleaded with God for something for so long that you were just pretty sure that he is ignoring you. It may not even be for something you want. It may be for an actual need. I know I have. There have been times when I have begged and pleaded with the Lord for something. There is one thing in particular that I have been praying about for years. I have pleaded my case to the Lord many times. How I could use that for His honor and glory. He hasn't seen fit to give it to me and I must say if I don't keep myself in check, I get a little bitter about it. In fact, some days I just want to stomp my foot like a toddler (and sometimes I do).

Ephesians 3:20 always seems to be a go-to verse to show how powerful God is.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...". How many times have we looked at that very verse and said, "Yes Lord, I know that you can do immeasurable more than I ask" while deep down we are secretly asking him to do exactly what we planned...how is he going to do more than we ask when we want him to do what WE want?

A couple of months ago I was studying a lesson for my Gospel Project class and there was something that stuck with me. It was a lesson about Elisha and the Shunamite woman and then again a few weeks ago I heard a podcast on the exact same thing. There is so much back story to this but I want to pick up on just a few main points that stuck with me. The Bible tells us a few things about this woman: she was a great woman (materially and in ways you couldn't see), she had a big house, and her husband was old. She urged Elisha to come eat. One day she told her husband that she thought they should use the extra room in their house for the prophet to stay in.

See she had wanted a child. She and her husband had prayed for a child for probably many years and now she had let go of that prayer (her husband was old). That room was for the child that they had prayed for and didn't get. Do you see where I'm headed here?

There comes a time when instead of being bitter about what you don't have, you offer God what you do have.

What opportunities are in your life right now because of disappointments? She offered God her place of disappointment. She didn't stay stuck in the bitterness of what she didn't get.

God is working while we are waiting. His ways are so much higher than our ways and sometimes that leaves us confused and wondering. Sometimes he gives us what we don't even ask for in ways that we could never have anticipated. If we trust him, we have to trust the process.

Much Love,

Beth

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