EXPECTATIONS - BOTH LARGE AND SMALL

Punxsutawney Phil had promised–we would have an early Spring. What happened? This I question as ice covers my window and runs down the pane. In Philippians 4:4 we read, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Rejoice? - in more ice, when my expectation was for an early Spring? Perhaps it is not the ice that’s a problem but my expectation. It just may be that I have labeled ice “bad” and Spring “good” when they are both part of God’s plan. I know I tend to place an order for certain blessings and then am disappointed when they don’t happen just as I ordered.

I have been praying for God to bless my writing with a publishing contract for one of my books. It hasn’t happened yet. But in the mean time, He has chosen to bless me in ways I would never have seen if I had dwelled only on the allusive publisher. Just to name a few, God has given me another novel that I just finished writing this morning. And . . . just listen to this: I have a macular hole in my left eye and these holes cannot heal. They can only be kept from enlarging with surgery and a very uncomfortable rehabilitation period. One blessing is that the hole has gotten no larger, and another blessing is: the hole that cannot heal has healed a little. The little blind spot in the center of my vision is like a tiny, broad ash leaf with a little tail at the top and another one at the bottom. The “leaf” is still there but the tails have disappeared. That which medicine cannot heal has healed. If I were waiting by the mailbox for the contract and could see nothing else, I would never have seen the healing in my own eye. Praise be to God for healing, for blessings of all kinds, and for the ice peppering my window pane. I know there will be Spring flowers that follow the rain because God has planned it to be so. Let us pray:

“Dear Lord and Father of us all, we lift your holy name in praise. May your kingdom come to this life of mine, that your will may be lived in me. Forgive me when I try to take over and place an order for your blessings. We know we can always go to you in prayer for healing and help, but too often we want to dictate the terms of your grace and love. You can bless us so much more and so much better than anything that comes to our earthly mind. I open my whole life to you and ask that you come in through a wider opening than the limited words of my supplication. You have so much more for us than can possibly fit into the palm of our own outstretched hand. There are no big blessings or small blessings, no large miracles or small miracles, only you Father working in our lives, only you. Fill us to over flowing with your grace and blessings, and a purpose far greater than anything we can ever imagine. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.”
Doris
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”
Copyright 2011 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.