Are you living in a desperate situation that never resolves, no matter what you do? You've tried absolutely everything humanly possible. You tried everything within your power and the power of others you've enlisted in the stuggle. You've wasted hours and hours looking for a solution like a squirrel looking for a nut to bury for the winter stockpile. You've cried oceans of tears. You've thought and thought and thought trying to figure it out but your thoughts only fall over each other and you end up in a heap on your face. You've begged, pleaded, bargained, and bribed. You've bent and twisted, almost to the point of compromise, or perhaps into compromise. You've been beyond desperate and back again. And still the answer doesn't come. In fact, the situation seems to be getting worse. And of course, you've prayed and prayed and prayed, hitting it from every angle with what you hope will be the key to unlock the mystery that will bring the situation to a God glorifying, pain stopping end.
Every morning when you wake up, you immediately feel the stress and gravity of the situation assaulting your mind and twisting your already anxious, bruised heart. You arise to face the day with a two ton weight in your chest. By evening, after a day of ardent, constant battle, you are totally exhausted but sleep won't come and you toss and turn and wrestle through the night, reminding the Lord that you need to sleep if you want to face tomorrow in strength. You remind Him again of the situation that continues seemingly unnoticed by His all seeing eye.
Eventually, when the only words you have left to say to anyone are, "I'm so tired", you come to realize that you can't fix it. You need a miracle. It seems that you're back to square one. All the work you've done so far seems to mean nothing. You acknowledge to yourself and God that HE is the only answer. If He, and only He, doesn't intervene, it will end in disaster and life altering heartache. It's at this point that you take one last look making sure that there isn't one more thing you can try and you throw it up in the air and say to God, here, take it. I put it in your capable, loving hands.
This process can take days, weeks, or if you're anything like me, years. You reason that surely a mature Christian should be able to unravel this riddle and bring the right answer to light. After all, faith perseveres, right?
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Ps. 5:3
Herein lies our answer and our victory. Each morning, you wake and immediately say to God, Here it is. I put it in your loving, capable hands."
Lysa Turkerust wrote a similar prayer that I like better.
"Lord, I need Your peace. That's why I'm handing this entire situation over to You. Humble me. Keep me from being wise in my own eyes. Show me what steps to take. And help me to trust You with this every.single.day. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
After you pray this prayer, you watch. Watch for what? Watch to know that God is working in your situation.
This can come in many ways. It may be a word spoken to you. It may be a verse that jumps off His Word and slaps you in the face and says THIS is your word for today. It may be confirmation from another who "happened" to pray the same exact prayer on the same exact day as you without any communication between the two of you. Or it may just be that you know that when you pray to Him, God hears and if God hears, He answers.
Be warned! Progress is not evidence or lack of evidence that God is working. It is so easy to see progress and shift our faith from God to the progress. Desperate situations are very fluid. They ebb and flow. The move forward and slip back. Putting your faith in progress will take your emotions all over the map and your faith will waver. Our faith must remain in one that we are trusting in for a miracle. He's the one who knows things that we do not know. He understands how things need to work. They may look worse before they get better and we must remember that night is darkest right before the dawn. But we must never lose hope. We must learn to let go without giving up.
When this is your everyday, you can experience increased peace, joy and hope every morning as you pray this simple prayer. Can you just put it in God's hands and just forget about it the rest of the day? Rarely, if you are me, but I am leanring to find the balance between that and spending my days in anxiety and frantic praying. When the situation comes to mind, I simply remember that God took that from me first thing in the morning and that His hands are working on it and I can worship and thank Him for the resolution. I know where I am. I know where He's promised to take me. What I don't know is what lies inbetween those two points, but He does and He will walk with me every step of the way. In that, I have peace because I know that my Father can do anything and He will, just because I am eagerly waiting for Him to delight me by answering my request.
Every morning when you wake up, you immediately feel the stress and gravity of the situation assaulting your mind and twisting your already anxious, bruised heart. You arise to face the day with a two ton weight in your chest. By evening, after a day of ardent, constant battle, you are totally exhausted but sleep won't come and you toss and turn and wrestle through the night, reminding the Lord that you need to sleep if you want to face tomorrow in strength. You remind Him again of the situation that continues seemingly unnoticed by His all seeing eye.
Eventually, when the only words you have left to say to anyone are, "I'm so tired", you come to realize that you can't fix it. You need a miracle. It seems that you're back to square one. All the work you've done so far seems to mean nothing. You acknowledge to yourself and God that HE is the only answer. If He, and only He, doesn't intervene, it will end in disaster and life altering heartache. It's at this point that you take one last look making sure that there isn't one more thing you can try and you throw it up in the air and say to God, here, take it. I put it in your capable, loving hands.
This process can take days, weeks, or if you're anything like me, years. You reason that surely a mature Christian should be able to unravel this riddle and bring the right answer to light. After all, faith perseveres, right?
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Ps. 5:3
Herein lies our answer and our victory. Each morning, you wake and immediately say to God, Here it is. I put it in your loving, capable hands."
Lysa Turkerust wrote a similar prayer that I like better.
"Lord, I need Your peace. That's why I'm handing this entire situation over to You. Humble me. Keep me from being wise in my own eyes. Show me what steps to take. And help me to trust You with this every.single.day. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
After you pray this prayer, you watch. Watch for what? Watch to know that God is working in your situation.
This can come in many ways. It may be a word spoken to you. It may be a verse that jumps off His Word and slaps you in the face and says THIS is your word for today. It may be confirmation from another who "happened" to pray the same exact prayer on the same exact day as you without any communication between the two of you. Or it may just be that you know that when you pray to Him, God hears and if God hears, He answers.
Be warned! Progress is not evidence or lack of evidence that God is working. It is so easy to see progress and shift our faith from God to the progress. Desperate situations are very fluid. They ebb and flow. The move forward and slip back. Putting your faith in progress will take your emotions all over the map and your faith will waver. Our faith must remain in one that we are trusting in for a miracle. He's the one who knows things that we do not know. He understands how things need to work. They may look worse before they get better and we must remember that night is darkest right before the dawn. But we must never lose hope. We must learn to let go without giving up.
When this is your everyday, you can experience increased peace, joy and hope every morning as you pray this simple prayer. Can you just put it in God's hands and just forget about it the rest of the day? Rarely, if you are me, but I am leanring to find the balance between that and spending my days in anxiety and frantic praying. When the situation comes to mind, I simply remember that God took that from me first thing in the morning and that His hands are working on it and I can worship and thank Him for the resolution. I know where I am. I know where He's promised to take me. What I don't know is what lies inbetween those two points, but He does and He will walk with me every step of the way. In that, I have peace because I know that my Father can do anything and He will, just because I am eagerly waiting for Him to delight me by answering my request.
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