Opening Prayer
Dear God,
Before any of us go asking, I pray that You humble our hearts to yield to Your will. The truth is I’m confused by Your will sometimes, but other times it feels so clear. But I choose to put my faith above the facts of my situation and above the fears. I choose to ask You again even though I know things might not look the way I had planned in my head. Help me to surrender my good plans for Your best plans for my life.
Love,
Grace
My Dad
It’s a beautiful summer morning, and I lazily go downstairs to make myself breakfast when I find out tragically that we’ve run out of white bread. My first instinct is to tell my dad when he comes home to bring some bread for me.
Maybe that’s nothing revolutionary to you, and honestly it wasn’t anything special to me either -- but you have to understand that God has somehow wired my brain to connect and analyze and find how every part of the world comes back to Him. So, as I ate yogurt that morning, I thought about how natural it was for me to recognize my need and then respond by asking my dad.
The reason I ask my dad is because I know he’ll bring home bread for me to eat. He won’t wait for the next day. He’ll go out, no matter where he is on his way home, and get me that bread. A man on a mission.
Something as simple as that. I know I can trust my dad to get me what I need.
But there’s something you gotta know, my dad doesn’t just bring home white bread. He brings egg tarts, coconut buns, and sausage rolls sometimes. My dad brings home what I asked for and more of what I didn’t even request just because he can. Just because he loves me. My dad gives me what I asked for and then so much more.
There’s this passage in the bible that reads:
It compares God, The Father, to good human fathers who give us good gifts when we ask for them. If their child asks for bread, they won’t give them a stone. If their child asks for a fish, they won’t give him a snake. If a human being, imperfect, limited, selfish, and sinful can provide such good gifts to their child -- wouldn’t God give you what you need? It even says “how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him”.
If my human dad goes beyond my request for simple bread, bringing extra pastries for me, then what about when I ask God for good things?
Of course, we have to caveat that good to God isn’t always good to us. Just like medicine for a sick child doesn’t seem good to us but a good parent knows it’s what is best.
As I grow up, I realize that more and more. I’ve asked God for what I thought was best for my life, and God has given me so much more than expected.
When I asked for a career, something to put food on the table and a roof over my head, God gave me a passion and a calling for optometry! He could’ve given me any job. I could’ve pursued any career and made money but you cannot buy the feeling of living in the fast lane of eternity. I get to feel like I contribute to the cause of heaven on earth. I feel how powerful God is in my life through school and my future job.
It’s something I really love learning about.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. I’m not in love every moment.
It doesn’t mean I don’t doubt or struggle, but I’m empowered when I go out. I’m empowered to stay the course. I have energy and interest. I have willpower when I should be unmotivated. God didn’t just put me on the course but He gave me what I needed to stay and thrive.
I think about what I ask God for now at 23 years old.
To be able to finish school
To find meaningful work in my field of interest
To find someone special to love and build a family with
To contribute to my community
To write a book one day
To raise children who love and know God as their Savior, Lord, and Friend
To leave a legacy of faith behind
To be one day called a good and faithful servant
I have so many dreams that I ask God for, and God doesn’t always answer directly. Sometimes I ask, and I’ll have to wait for the answer. Sometimes the answer seems to be one way but it goes the other.
My life is an adventure, but I hope I always think of my dad with his arms full of bread.
I wonder what God’s arms are full of when I ask Him about my hopes.
Jesus, our Good Shepherd says in Mark 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.”
Closing Prayer
Dear God,
Thanks for coming to give life. You could’ve stopped there at giving us eternity with You. We don’t even deserve that much, but You didn’t stop there. You went further. You pushed for more even when we didn’t want it for ourselves. You offered up the most precious gift, Jesus. Life is found in You. Life in all its fullness. I pray for all the desires to be submitted under You. I’m sorry when I idolize them or try to control what happens. I lack the faith to trust You as a good Father. Remind me that You love me. Your arms are full of blessing and wonder for Your children. Thank You for not giving me what I deserve and giving me what I don’t deserve.
Love,
Grace
Heya!
ReplyDeleteMatthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Hebrews 8:10-12
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
At the end of the day, regardless of what we are doing, what matters the most is whether we KNOW God for ourselves. I mean as in a personal relationship. And that IS the new covenant as well, that we will all know Him from the least to the greatest.
From what I've personally experienced, there are just so many things that we ask of God and even so many regrets that we have in life. Definitely, career would be at the top and even a potential spouse. One thing God has been teaching me, and I hope I get this across well, is that above all our desires, we should be seeking God with all our hearts. We should know Him and His character not because some pastor or a friend told us about Him but because we have personally experienced His love and mercy in our lives and because HE still teaches us personally too.
I really wanted to be a doctor and God literally stripped that path away from me. I'm living in a time of darkness in terms of career wise, but I've realized that at the end of the day, my purpose isn't just to live an abundant and happy life here on earth, but to live as a vessel for Christ so that He may use me for His Gospel and so that others may KNOW Him, too.
The servant is not above the master and of course, we will suffer since we are His disciples, but all these regrets and hardships refine us and make us more like Christ. I want to encourage you in always seeking Him first and foremost. Knowing that He loves you, and also knowing that He does have a great purpose for you, and like you've mentioned before in previous blogs it may not always be how we may want it.
In the grand scope of eternity, suffering now for Christ and the Gospel's sake and being refined faith wise is by far the most important thing. In the end, we have eternity to spend with Christ and there so much to look for! So definitely, as Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21 "19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Keep running the race of faith! Don't give up! You have one huge journey up ahead with Jesus at the head of it.
-Alvaro