Monday, May 1, 2023

[New post] BE PATIENT (By guest blogger, Traci Jordan)

BE PATIENT (By guest blogger, Traci Jordan)

Carol Ann Erhardt

May 1

I am humbled to host Traci Jordan on my devotional blog today. She is a wife, mother, and child of God. In addition to working full time, she runs marathons, and praises God by singing with the praise band in the church she attends. Please feel free to welcome her by leaving a comment.

We live in a world where everything is instant and we can all feel a little entitled at times. Often times when we pray we expect our prayers to be answered instantly. When that doesn't happen some people lose faith. They say things like "God has never done anything for me."

It reminds me of a toddler throwing a fit because they didn't get a toy they wanted. They have a bunch of toys but they only see the toy they don't have. We do that with blessings. We overlook what we have because our sight is only set on what we don't have.

Let me ask you this….Have you ever thanked God for what He has already given you? Have you ever thanked Him for the blessings in your life you didn't ask for or do you only talk to God when you want something? Do you pray for the same thing everyday or do you trust that if it is His will and it is for your good He will give it you when the time is right?

I used to ask over and over and think it just wasn't His will for me if I didn't get what I wanted in my time. (The key phrase here is "in my time." ) Even though I didn't expect instant answered prayers I still had an expectation on when I thought the prayer should be answered. Then one day as I was listening to music, Nothing Else played.

I heard this song so many times before but this time it hit different. I was convicted by the lyrics and I cried out to God asking for forgiveness. I put all my trust in Him that day. I prayed for this certain thing for the last time. Trusting that if it was His will I would get it in His time not mine.

I have not prayed for that particular thing again. Instead I found myself being thankful for what I had and where I was.

It's been a couple of years since then and my prayer is being answered. As I look back I can see where God was working in my life to bring me to this place. (Hindsight is 20/20.) Looking back I see that I wasn't ready for the end result of that prayer back then. I had more work to do and once I trusted and let Him guide me I can see He was answering the prayer all along. It just wasn't as cut and dry as I thought it was. God is amazing and He works all things for our good. We just have to learn to be patient.

Comment