Life Lessons & Autonomy In The Process Of Prayers
Merry Christmas! I hope this post finds you cozy and warm, surrounded by friends and family. Over the last few weeks, I have spent significant time pondering how I have spent this year. I still have a few weeks left before I hit my goal of writing one post per week for a year. I am now only ten weeks from hitting this goal. When I began this substack page, I was at a job where I spent over a decade. In many ways, this job ceased to challenge me in new and exciting ways. I had plateaued with that job, and though I enjoyed the people I worked with, ultimately, it was a job that I found I could no longer enjoy simply because I felt stuck in a rut, so in an attempt to escape, I began learning data science and found it to be a field that both challenged and excited me!
As I look back through the years of my life there are many people who have motivated me to take a new and often scary step in my life. My Uncle Henry is the guy who very nearly had to drag me into Greenbelt Electric Co-Op to get my application to attempt to get my first job in Telecommunications. It was his prompting that allowed me to get a job that would ultimately bless me for many, many years. It was through this job that I would learn many of the skills that have allowed me to succeed despite never having had any formal education. Then, a little over a year ago, a young lady by the name of Madelyn, through a series of conversations, motivated me to take a new step and face fears I had long avoided. Through this I finally got my GED completed. It was also through this process of getting my GED that I discovered a love for Data Science, and I soon began the online studies that led me to get my first certification through a platform called Coursera.
From this point, I was able to land a job that has allowed me to continue my education in various ways. Looking at these two key moments of my life, I have to confess that I am and seem always to have been a rather stubborn person. This is something that has hindered and helped me in different moments of life. Yet what I also see as I reflect on these moments is that often, the change in life we need does not come in the form we want. I think we as adults can often act like children kicking and screaming, not wanting to accept the changes of life, not realizing that these unwanted changes are often the catalysts that will bring us closer to the fulfillment of our desires and prayers. I think we often ask God for certain things in life, and yet often, we rail against the process of having those prayers answered. Or maybe that’s just me. I think we often want God to act as our cosmic genie, instantly answering our prayer requests. Yet God, who is infinitely wiser than us, knows that to instantly give us the things we want would likely destroy us.
I was recently listening to a podcast where they discussed working toward our goals versus having those goals instantly met. During this conversation, they were talking about how those who win the lottery will often be destitute and ruined after a few short years of winning millions upon millions of dollars. They discussed the idea that often, unearned wealth will ruin people because they never had to earn it; they don’t value the things they have. We see this not only with those who win the lottery but also often with NFL players or those who inherit a great sum of wealth. As they were talking through this idea, I couldn’t help but think about how good God is that He hears our every prayer, and as much as He might want to give us many of the things we ask for, He knows that often the things we ask for if given to us instantly would destroy us.
Matthew 7: 7-12 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
As I was writing this, I was reminded of this verse in Matthew. I think oftentimes we stop at the “ask” part of this verse. Part two of this verse is the harder part, but it’s also such a cool premise. Jesus says, “Seek, and you will find.” This is the part that involves us getting involved in the process of answering our prayers. God could instantly give us all the things we ask for, but He knows that the process of “seeking” is often far better for us than the answered prayer. Often, through the “seeking” process, we learn that the thing we originally asked for is not what we actually wanted. Or when we finally get the thing we asked for, we have a much deeper appreciation for it. I also love the fact that God wants to involve us in the process of answering our prayers.
As I look forward to a new year, I am excited to see where I can be involved with God in the process of answering my prayers. I am excited to continue to “seek and find.” So, to those who reading this, I ask this question: have you asked God how you can be involved in the process of working toward those yet unanswered prayers? We are not powerless in the process. If it is in His will and we are truly seeking His will in it, He will provide a way if it is not, He will redirect you if you are willing to be directed. This is something I have often failed in. I have often gotten so lost in wanting “my will” to be done that I forget to trust and just say, “Thy will be done,” and trust that the final result is and will be what is best whether I understand it or not.
Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful time with friends and family, and I hope you, too, can look forward to the new year excited to partner with God to work toward those yet unanswered prayers!
