Hey Girl,
Blessings. Some are often taken for granted, forgotten or overlooked. Blessings come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes a blessing is financial or material, other times a blessing is a personal, spiritual or intellectual sorting out. Often times a blessing is something bad that occurs and ends of producing a great outcome. A blessing can ultimately be the fact that you woke up today and are alive and breathing. Many times we don't recognize a blessing when it comes. We usually have a set idea of how it should be or where it should come from. We create different ways in our own minds of how something should happen, when it should happen and whether or not people are there when it happens and if so, we try to imagine who would be there and how they'd react. We throw ourselves off because we believe that there's only one right way for a blessing to come.
When we ask God for things we shouldn't put limits on Him as to how He should come through for us. We analyze the situation and try to create an outcome that seems possible to us. It’s almost as if we forget that we serve a God who can do the impossible. In Genesis, Abram (Abraham) and his wife Sarai (Sarah) were promised a son. Sarai was too old to bear a child therefore she and Abram deceived themselves into thinking that the blessing would come a different way. Sarai told her husband to lie with Hagar (Sarai’s maidservant) and have a child. They messed up because they took matters into their own hands. God promised them a child between the two of them but when they didn’t see any results, they tried to make things happen on their own. The story continues and Sarai becomes upset with the fact that Abram had a child (Ishmael) with another woman (even though it was her idea). Sometimes we can get in the way of our own blessing by trying to do things in our own time rather than letting God be God. In the end, God blessed Sarai to bear a son named Issac and His promise was fulfilled. God is not a man that He should lie therefore His promise was going to come to Sarai and Abram regardless of if Abram laid with Hagar or not. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
When I was a bit younger, I would usually have places to be and since I couldn't drive, I relied on the people around me to get me to my destination on time. I'd have mall dates with friends, rehearsals, nail appointments and other things. I would become upset when I had someplace to be but couldn't get there on time. Maybe the person driving me made me late, traffic got in the way, we were detoured or worse, I myself was not ready on time and I delayed my own day. I used to get so hurt because I hate being late for things. One day when I was 17, I had a nail appointment to go to but the person who was driving me there was taking a long time to come out to the car. I remember pacing the garage floor almost in tears because I had another place to be after that and by me running late for my first appointment, I'd be late for the next and my entire day would be ruined. I was mumbling and complaining trying to understand what the holdup was and thinking of who else I could call that would come pick me up and get me where I needed to be. God spoke to my heart in that very moment and told me that it's ok. He explained that everything was working perfectly and while there may be a delay, I have no idea what He was protecting me from. I stopped moping and began to thank God. When we finally left the house, we took a different and longer route than usual to the salon. I started to get upset again because not only was I late but now I was taking the long way! I remembered what God told me and I calmed down. When we returned home from the nail salon we discovered that there had been a car accident on the route we usually took around 11:00 that day. My nail appointment was at 11:00. We were scheduled to leave at 10:45 to get there on time but didn't leave until 11:10. On top of that, we took a totally different route than usual. God protected us. I might have been late for my appointment but it could have been so much worse. We could have been injured, lost our car, never would've made it to the appointment or worse, we could have lost our lives. After hearing about this accident, I remembered that I had prayed God's protection over my family and I that day. He answered my prayers but it took Him delaying some things for it to happen. All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. While you’re waiting for God to answer your prayers, bring you the blessings you need and fulfilling the things you want, remember that His ways are not our ways, nor are our thoughts His. God does all things well and He will bless you with what you need, when you need it if you just trust Him.
I love you so much and God loves you!
XOXO,
Farrah LaRae Wynn