Not What I Expected - Encouragement Café - May 30

Not What I Expected
 By Jill Beran

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you… Matthew 7:7

My grandma’s battle with cancer was getting harder, but our prayers were growing stronger.  We prayed more specifically and more often, but her condition grew worse.  I understood death was a part of life, but my children knew God answered prayer.  They were asking God to heal Grandma “B” and they expected Him to do it.

I longed for Him to heal her, but with each passing day it didn’t happen.  It was then I had to share another truth with my children.

It’s true the Bible tells us to ask.  We are to go to God with any and every need, fully believing He can meet it.  But it’s also true that the answer won’t always look like we expect or want.

We’d been asking God to heal Grandma and He did… only it was spiritually, not physically.  My little 6 year old daily asked God to take the cancer away and He did… only it didn’t happen here on earth.  It took place when she met Him in heaven.  We constantly asked Him to comfort her… for a while that happened in a temporary way, but when she breathed her last, she was comfortable and will be pain free forever.

Friend, this truth doesn’t make the pain any easier, but it does remind me God is God and I am not.  I am the one asking, but He is the One answering and that encourages me as I remember who He is.

God is good, loving, and mighty and He has a plan.  Like my children, you can go to Him in prayer, truly believing He can do miracles… because He can!  At the same time remember there will be times when His answer isn’t what you want or expect.  In those moments trust the One whose ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8)

Friend, does it seem your prayers are going unanswered?  Remember this… they are not - God is there!  He instructs us to talk to Him.  We can expect Him to listen.  Share your needs with Him and as you pray, ask Him to prepare you for what He will provide.

Heavenly Father, You are God and I am not.  I trust You, which means I believe You know what is best.  Remind me to come to You in prayer, ask You to provide and trust Your answers.  Lord, in those moments of pain, and in the times I don’t understand, draw me closer to You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

© 2019 by Jill Beran.  All rights reserved.

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