Psalm 66:20 “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me.”
Have you ever felt the Lord calling you to a specific calling and then have it turn out differently then you had planned? I truly felt a calling to open my home to grieving mothers. It would be a safe place to come and share whatever was on their hearts. I have been doing this for about six years now. This year has been different from the past years. I have always had at least six moms attend. This year however I have had one faithful mom come. I was truly blessed by her, but I felt I was falling short of what I thought God had called me to do. I soon became discouraged, believing that maybe God wanted me to move on. I would pray each week the prayer of Jabez, “Lord, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory.”
One night as we were discussing our deepest sorrows, she shared with me that she had been praying for our group. Her prayer, on the other hand, was a prayer completely opposite of mine. She was praying that she would be the only mom attending. She felt there were many things she could not share if other moms were in attendance. This was an incredible lesson for me. We both were praying for completely different outcomes. I now see that the Lord answered both of our prayers. She had the safe place to share all of her feelings, a safe place with no one sitting in judgment. I, on the other hand, saw that God is not finished with me in opening my home to grieving moms. He is enlarging my territory; it just might be one mom at a time.
Lord, we never know how prayers are answered, but they always are, just not how we expect.
