Lately I've been struggling a bit with the "Why?" issues of faith. We all go through these phases--I believe we must experience these times to have true, tested faith. Sometimes God doesn't provide many answers to the big questions. However, He often grants our prayer requests in the form of little, "everyday" gifts. They may seem insignificant, but when you're really wondering if He's up there, if He cares, it makes a big difference.
Chronic insomnia plagues me, and recently I woke up in the middle of the night to loud, gusting winds. I was concerned about our patio furniture and plants outside, and the anxiety kept me awake for a long time. The narrative of Jesus' calming the winds at sea jumped into my mind. I said to God, "I know You calmed the winds at least once. I know You can do it now. Please, please, God, make the winds die down just long enough for me to go back to sleep."
Within minutes, the winds were stilled.
I slipped back into sleep, somewhat surprised and very grateful.
When I awoke in the morning, the wind was active again. But it had calmed down enough for me to sleep again, and that was exactly what I'd asked for. The next morning I told my husband about my middle-of-the-night prayer. He said that he had noticed that the winds calmed down and very abruptly--so I know it wasn't just my imagination.
God knows that our faith sometimes needs a little boost. He knew I needed sleep that night. I've experienced at least one other honored "everyday" prayer request since that windy night. I still have some big prayer requests that give me some pain. But these little gifts from my Father help me to continue to ask and give the strength and wisdom to understand that His wisdom and timing are much better than mine.
About Me
- Sunshine
- Learning to face life with a smile...and occasional hysterical laughter.
3 comments:
I'm convinced he also has a sense of humor in these little gifts. I remember clearly a morning about 16 years ago when I was doing my getting ready routine in the morning while listening to the radio and thought, "Wow, I'd sure like to hear such-and-such song, it's been years since I heard it!" (The song was about 6 years old and not played often). It was the next song on the radio.
I laughed and laughed and knew God was paying attention to my thoughts. Strangely enough, the song was Almost Paradise (from Footloose).
Amen! Sometimes it is really difficult to be grateful for those seemingly small everyday gifts, especially when you are going through very difficult times. However, if we take the time to tell our great and awesome God "thank You" and bless His name when we are going through hard things, He will bless us the more. Sometimes we concentrate on what is going wrong... if we could just turn it around and look at what is right in our lives we would notice how extremely blessed we are.
Amen and amen!
Thanks for sharing, girls! :)
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