This morning a dear friend and sister in the Lord sent me a copy of a bible study she is working on by Steve Johnson titled, "30 Days to Coping with Delay". It is about learning how to better handle life when it seems God is taking his sweet time and then some to answer prayers that seem to us in need of far more quick responses than what we are getting.
At first glance the study seemed simple enough; based on Abraham and Sarah praying for a child and the terribly long wait they had for Isaac's arrival. However the first question based on Proverbs 13:12"...hope deferred makes the heart sick." caught my attention. The question is "How do you feel when hopes are delayed?"
Confession time: Ummmm....without even taking time to think much about it I had 5 words/phrases, boom, just like that! And ALL negative! Yikes! (frightened, hopeless, resigned to the worst possible outcome, undeserving of God's attention, confused as to whether or not I have been praying for the right kind of answer) In other words every response EXCEPT "trust" (in God's wisdom to answer correctly in HIS time). WOW, how incredibly embarrassing is that after all the years I have been trying with varying degrees of success to be a disciple of Christ??!!!? After all the years of seeing God answer prayers at the last possible second, and perfectly, how could these be my instant first responses to the question? Aiii yiiii....I have some work to do in my relationship with God, that's for sure. I am most grateful to my friend for passing this study along to me. Never too old to learn so that is a good thing! God is so incredibly patient and for that I am most grateful!!
3 comments:
I think that I will always be learning/being challenged to look at attitudes or ways of doing things. Each level of learning is a little deeper and is changing my perspectives on my relationship with God. Praying for you as you and God work thru this study!
Thanks for sending it to me!
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