A Rainbow and Praying for NO

I took this photo late last summer or early fall. I was taken aback by the beauty I could see from the rainbow with the dark clouds behind it. Where the blue skies and sun were clearly shining, the beauty could not be seen as much. I have recently learned a lesson from this picture.

I think everyone knows it takes the sun (light) and rain (water) to make a rainbow. Sometimes we get so caught up in the beauty of the rainbow we forget there had to be rain to make it. With rain comes dark clouds.  

My family and I have prayed specifically for the Lord to work something out the way we just knew it would be best for our family. Of course, we were seeing everything from the here and now. The Lord, Who created this rainbow, sees things in such a way we could never experience with our finite minds. We humans so often fail to remember that. My family and I surely did.

Our prayer at first was YES. Yes, Lord, let this perfect plan come about so our family can shout your praises about how you worked all things out in miraculous ways! We had it all figured out as to how perfect everything would be as it fell into place. 

But then, the answer was "NO." 

"NO? Really, Lord? NO?... But.... it was such a PERFECT plan and WE thought...."

"Ok. Well, if NO is what you are saying, then for this next thing we are waiting to hear about and praying for surrounding our family, we will pray NO."

As my family and I were praying over these answers, I began to read a book entitled God is Able by Priscilla Shirer that broke down Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

I was thrilled to realize this set of verses was what the book was about. I had claimed this group of verses several years ago when our son went through a learning program to help strengthen his cognitive skills. I just knew this was the Lord showing me He was going to answer our prayers in the way we wanted. I was reading it thinking that it would give me the wisdom to help others when they were waiting for the Lord to answer a prayer. I was going to be shouting for joy that the Lord did far more abundantly beyond all we could ask or think in this situation!

As I kept going to the Lord and praying fervently over my family, my prayer request one morning at school with my fellow teachers was exactly: "I am praying for NO."

And this time the Lord answered my request the way I prayed! Sortof....

 He told ME: "NO, Kellie."

 

The circumstance we were praying for the "no" actually received the "YES." 

"NO for me and the prayers of my family? A 'yes' for the other? But.... I asked for NO this time! Really, Lord? Really?" 

I began to wrestle with the Lord. I was the strong-willed one wrestling with the Creator. I was angry that He did not answer the prayer as I had wanted. I had forgotten so quickly how little I am and how big my God is. The creature was telling the Creator what to do. The finite one was telling the infinite One what should be happening.

When life reflects only the blue and clear sky I cannot see those promises of His truth. I want the rainbow - but without the dark clouds and rain. I want MY answer but without any struggle or pain. After wrestling with the Lord He began to show me through the dark clouds of my Momma's heart that His promises never fail and I can actually see them better because of the darkness, struggle, and pain.

Promises such as: 

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB) quoted above but let's see it again: 

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

I Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)

But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

Isaiah 55:8-11 (ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

As the heavens are higher than the earth and as the rainbow stretches out above the earth I stare up at its majesty. His thoughts are not my thoughts. I cannot see what the Lord sees. I have to trust Him that his "NO" is the best. 

The rain still falls from my eyes regarding His "NO." But, I trust Him and await the rainbow of His promises as the water from my eyes mixes with the Light of His Word to view the splendor that is above and beyond all that we could ask or think for our family.

And to HIM will be the glory.

Pouring In

My son was doing maintenance on his truck last summer and changing the oil. He found the diesel oil, checked it, smelled it, and looked at it and all seemed normal. He poured it into his engine and went on with his day. As the day wore on his truck began to act really strange and was not running properly. By the next day he had to park the truck as the engine froze. 

He could not understand what had happened until he went back to the diesel oil container and looked at it again comparing it to other liquids in the barn. He found that what he thought was diesel oil in that container was actually weed killer. What he thought was real diesel oil had actually been an empty container that had been used in the past couple of years as a storage place for extra mixed weed killer - but had not been marked as to what was truly in the bottle. 

It looked like the real thing and he said it even felt like the real oil, but it killed his engine. His truck was totaled. What he thought he was pouring in to help his motor actually ended up being detrimental. 

He and I have discussed many times how applicable his issue with his truck is to our spiritual lives. How many times have we poured in something to our "spiritual engines" that looked, smelled, and felt right, only to find out it was "spiritual weed killer?"

There are many things in this world that we pour into our lives each day: social media, the news, music, podcasts, day-to-day conversations, etc.. What we pour into our lives will either strengthen and maintain our "spiritual engines" or it will cause them to lock up and die.

This year my heart has been focused on pouring in TRUTH and how important it is to search for it. There are a lot of "truths" out in our world, but can they really ALL be a truth when they are saying different things? What my son thought was "true oil" turned out to be something totally different and destructive. I cannot help but think of all we see and hear that permeate our minds and hearts. There can be things that seem to be good for us to pour into our lives, but in the end they leave us spiritually weakened and destroyed.

The Lord has been impressing more and more on my heart that I must go to His Word for truth and life. In His Word He tells us how HE made this world. It is His creation and He knows the beginning from the end. God's truth is how we can hold on when things are dark and heavy. It is there we find ways to praise Him when the days are easy and our burdens are light. His truth will lead you the right way when the unexpected happens and you do not know how the next step will be taken. His truth is the light in the darkness, the balm to the soul, the "correct oil for our spiritual engines." 

God's TRUTH is what 

guides, 

heals, 

saves, 

calms,

frees,

moves,

FILLS.

I want to be pouring God's Word into my life and heart so much as I maintain my "spiritual engine" that I am safe from becoming spiritually destroyed because I am filled with TRUTH. 

John 10:10 (NIV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Psalm 86:11 (CSB)

Teach me your way, Lord,

and I will live by your truth.

Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.

The way the Lord worked out my son's truck situation is something amazing - insurance paid off most of what was left. While for a time my son had no truck, my family saw the Lord work for him as he spoke the truth of his circumstance and let the Lord work out the details. As we clung to the Lord and His TRUTH, He poured into my son the ability to trust Him when all seemed lost. He also showed ME what it meant to use His truth to pray over a circumstance.

So, what are you pouring into your "spiritual engine?" 

Seek His Word first. God's TRUTH will always be worth pouring over and into your life.