Relationship with God

Have you ever moved to a new city, or even to a new school where you didn't know anyone?  It takes time to meet new friends.  It takes even more time to build lasting friendships.  You have to spend time with them in order to build that relationship.

It's the same with our relationship with God.  It's not enough that you invited Christ into your heart.  He wants a relationship with you.  It is not something that happens over night.  You have to spend time in His word.  You have to pray to hear his voice.  Most of all, you have to submit to God's will.

Growing up I was always sad & angry that I wasn't getting what I was praying for, or I wasn't getting it right then.  Most of all, though, I wanted Him to show me the plan that He had for my life.  However, when I see what lies ahead of me now, I know why He waited to show me His plan.  I would have fought God. 

You see, I never thought that God would call me into ministry.  Satan was lying to me.  He kept telling me things like "Women shouldn't preach God's word." I was never the best student, so Satan would use that to make me think that I'm not qualified to preach His word.

All my life I heard the phrase "God doesn't call the qualified.  He qualifies the called."  I thought I understood what that meant.  However,  the past few years He has given me a lot to think about.  He has been slowly teaching me (qualifying me).  He has put it on my heart to bring others to Him.

It started with little things like my Facebook page.  I didn't think twice about sharing a post that had cuss words in it.  Or complaining on Facebook about how things weren't going my way.  God put it on my heart that I wasn't being a good example.  So I cleaned up my Facebook page.

Next he started working on my relationship with Him.  He showed me that just because I went to a Christian school and went to church, that I still had a long way to go in my relationship with Him.  He showed me that memorizing scripture means nothing if I'm not living those truths.

One of my biggest struggles has always been my lack of patience.  However, when I prayed about moving back to NC, the answer was always "just wait.". When we came to the decision that NC was not where we were to be, there was a complete peace about it.  I can tell you with certainty that if the answer was "no" from the beginning, my very stubborn nature would have been to react with anger.  Instead, he waited and let us come to the conclusion that we are not to be there.

In waiting for His perfect timing, we stayed in PA & plugged into a church, plugged into His word, and grew spiritually.  This allowed God to work on our hearts & prepare us for what lies ahead.

So, when it seems like God isn't answering your prayers, remember that sometimes the answer is "no." His plan is perfect and sometimes the things that we want have to go by the wayside in order for his plan to be put into place.  Other times we must wait.  The answer may still be "no," but it could also be "yes," just not now.