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BIG Things

by Susan Hanson  
12/23/2020 / Christian Living

“If it be Your will” is a phrase I have overused so I don’t sound like I am demanding God answer my prayers as I want them answered. Humility is necessary but going overboard deprives us of the blessings to be had for approaching His throne of grace with the confidence, boldness in some translations, of Hebrews 4:16.

 

It is almost Christmas and today something happened that is a bit like a parable of His willingness to do difficult things for us. My 44-year-old daughter wants nothing for Christmas, and when I gave her the card I had picked out especially for her and my wonderful son-in-law, she gave me a look very near to disgust and said, “It better be just a card – nothing else in it.” I understand her thoughts and did not get upset, just a little disappointed. The comparison just came to me, though not identical, similar to the way God loves to do big, difficult, and even impossible things for His children.

 

I would give my daughter anything and everything she wants within my means financially and my ability. But she limits what I can do by making sure to not ask, or even hint at, anything that might inconvenience me in any way. And that’s what I have been doing for all these years when I pray! God wants to give, and do, and I limit Him by lacking the confidence/boldness to ask the big, difficult things without the “if it be His will” but with faith knowing His desire to give abundantly instead. And if I feel disappointment by not being able to give and do abundantly as I would love to for my daughter, then applying the rest of the quasi parable, means I am causing God disappointment too. Now there’s a sobering thought.

 

I don’t pray beautiful prayers that are a joy to read. Not because I don’t want to, I just don’t have the “knack”. But I am borrowing these next three paragraphs from my journal as I prayed them because I couldn’t figure out how to write the substance any other way, to tell the truth.

 

“Now, those big things, the nearly impossible things – Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief as You did the man whose son needed healing in Mark 9:24. You can do anything. You are above all and have all power. I ask You to completely heal Daniel, (my grandson) emotionally, mentally, physically, and most of all spiritually. I asked the same for Lisa, (his mom, my daughter) many times, and I heard You say, “I have heard your prayer.” I have seen a little improvement, but I wait patiently for the rest of her healing, with a thankful heart in persistent prayer. Because You can. And because You heard my prayer, You said so. And because it is not Your will that your children suffer like Lisa and Daniel do. Daniel isn’t a believer yet but when he is spiritually healed, he will be. So, the prayers for his salvation are wrapped up in this too.

 

I also ask You for my brothers’ salvation. Please, do for them what You did for me and cause them to see their need for You and the salvation they so desperately need, but don’t even know it. And give them all – Daniel, my brothers, their kids and grandkids – the courage to turn their backs on the world’s ways that hold them captive.

 

These are big and impossible, for humans, but You can do it all. And You want to do it – Your Word says that You want all to know You and be saved.”

 

Maybe asking for salvation for my brothers doesn’t seem like a big thing but I became a believer in 1972 when my first son was just a baby, and as usually happens to a new convert, I immediately told my parents and brothers. But neither my husband nor I did a good job of living out our newfound faith. Unfortunately, four decades would pass with little improvement. Ultimately, the marriage bit the dust. I avoided telling my brothers anything based on my growing (finally!) faith because they had made it clear years ago that they did not want to hear it. I knew they would not understand that God was leading me and teaching me many things as I endured the last few years, so they have nothing to look at with any kind of longing for what I have.

 

Even so, I can see God working on one of them. A few weeks ago, while I was talking on the phone to him, he made a statement about whatever we were talking about and inserted that Jesus is coming again. It doesn’t sound like much, but I give God the glory for showing my little brother truth to replace his former stand of, “I am an atheist.”

 

Alleluia!

I was raised in church but always felt like I was missing something. Now the Word of God excites me! My curiosity enhances the pursuance of discernment. I have often felt discouraged, but not totally defeated knowing that in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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