Which Do You See? Abundance Or Lack.
I remember a few years after Brett and I were married the first time, I was sitting at a friend’s wedding, watching her and her new hubby interact. They both loved Jesus. Their wedding had been focused on a covenant they had entered with God at the center. She wasn’t pregnant during her wedding like I had been. It appeared that they were going to have the marriage I wanted and now so desperately prayed for.
I sat in the pew trying to be happy for them and yet, my marriage was a mess. I had been praying that God would do a miracle in our marriage, but Brett was still an addict and he wasn’t interested in anything that included God. The weight of my unanswered prayers now nearly crushed me.
Have you ever gone to an event or a celebration and notice the person who is getting exactly what you have prayed for for so long? You have labored in prayer, you’ve cried out to God, and yet, here you sit, seemingly with still no answer while watching someone else get the answer you long for.
It can be hard to celebrate and genuinely be happy in these situations because our heart may be breaking, longing for the very same thing.
It’s almost as though we believe that God only has so many blessings to give out and we’ve just experienced one more that we won’t get to receive. Believing the lie that it’s one less chance God will give us the very same thing. (John 10:10)
Ladies, our God is a God of abundance. (2 Corinthians 9:8) It can be difficult in the middle of heartbreak to see, but God only gives good gifts. Included in that is, waiting through hard times, laboring in prayer, and hoping in a God who loves to give us the very best gift.
Our attitude needs to be abundance rather than lack during these seasons. We can celebrate with our friends genuinely and still rest in our pain from waiting, but it has to do with our focus. I encourage you to seek the God who gives the gift, more than the gift itself. Because then we really get to experience the abundance rather than our lack. If all I seek is that gift or blessing, then once we have been given it, we will still experience lack because we have forgotten that the greatest gift we’ve ever been given is Jesus Christ. No other gift compares. Focusing on our desires, rather than leaving them at the feet of Jesus is where our feeling of lack comes from.
If all I long for is the ring on my finger, baby in my arms, the relationship to look a certain way, his behavior to change… I will lose out on the bigger blessing. If my entire focus is on the answer I expect and demand from God, I will miss out on the quiet times that He holds my hand comforting me in the waiting. Or the way He leads me to a deeper trust that He is in control even when I can’t see the outcome. (Psalm 66:8-12)
God is not a God who gives out a generic blessing. He gives specific blessings to each of us, meant for our greatest good and His glory. Specific to us. When all I want is that exact gift in this exact moment, I may not understand that the greatest gift God could give me, may not come today or tomorrow but as I seek Him waiting, praying, trusting. I can see that just having what I asked for may not have been the answer I was really longing for. (Proverbs 3:5-6) God is so good giving gifts. He’s so good at blessing His children and He proved that by being willing to redeem us by sending His one and only Son. If He is willing to do that, then why would He withhold anything else from us. (John 3:16-17)
If we seek Him completely, regardless of the desired outcome. He is able to provide for our needs and our desires completely, even when are blessed with our greatest desire or even while we wait a little longer for it.
