Well, God always answers prayers. But some of His answers are more obvious than others.
Recently, I have been praying for patience and humility. These are two things everyone always warns against praying for. Because God will answer these requests in a BIG way. And He has.
Patience doesn't come easy for me. Especially when it involves waiting for God's will to be revealed in my life. I struggle with relying on Him to guide my steps in everyday life. I struggle with giving over the worries I have about my future to Him. I have no idea what His plan is for me after college. But that's where the patience and faith come in. He is giving me patience through opportunities to exercise patience.
Even though patience is difficult, humility is worse. Yesterday in church my pastor gave a sermon on sin. One of the points He made is that demons can see fraudulent faith in 'christians', even when humans can't. This is terrifying. And if it doesn't convict the most spiritually confident, then I don't know what will. We took communion at the end of service and I felt like God was using this to knock me down. To help me realize how small I really am. He was telling me that my confidence in my faith was ill placed. I should boast only in Christ and what He has done for me. Not what grand spiritual gesture I have made recently. The only person I am helping in learning more about God and drawing close to Him is me. God doesn't need me for His kingdom.
There are two really tangible events in my life recently that have given me an opportunity to exercise patience and humility. It's difficult to wrestle through these now, but I hope to let them refine me.
Another way that God has answered my prayers is through the hymn Jesus Paid it All. It seems that everywhere I go now I hear this song. I take this to mean that God is using this song to help me through my struggles with patience and humility. The first verse goes 'I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness watch and pray, find in me thine all in all."
Find in me thine all in all. This is all God ever wants from us. This is what I'm working on.
