Expect the Unexpected

The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”


6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!  Luke 17:5-6

When you pray, do you expect the unexpected?  When you pray, do you believe that God will come through on your behalf?  When you pray, do you foster doubt in your heart?

Let me confess this to you.  There are times in my prayer life where I pray for something but yet I doubt that God will pull through for me.  Though I know He promises to faithfully answer our prayers, I find myself doubting.

Now doubt is not unbelief.  The definition of doubt is being double-minded about something.  Doubt can be our stumbling block in our prayer life.  We may pray for the impossible, we have faith in God and believe He can answer our prayers, but we doubt whether He really will answer our prayers in our favor. 

Recently, Scott and I were facing an impossible situation.  It was a heavy financial burden that we just didn't know how in the world we could pay.   I'd prayed over this situation, yet I doubted.  Being a math person and a natural worrier, I played with the numbers, analyzing our budget, cutting out the unecessary, trying to find a way to meet our obligation.  To be even more transparent, I was concerned we'd have to cut way back in our budget on some of our necessities and possibly our charitable contributions.  I just didn't know how we'd make it.  My heart was especially burdened about having to cut back on the charitable contributions.  So I prayed, knowing there was absolutely NO WAY we could make this financial obligation.  I found myself doubting God's provision and blessings. 

However, after much prayer, we made a commitment to God to trust Him week by week with our finances.  This is an easy thing to do when things are going right financially.  However, when faced with a financial crisis, it becomes extremely difficult.  Now you must know that Scott and I are not extravagent people.  We are both modest people and we live a modest lifestyle.  Despite our modest living, this burden threatened the financial peace and freedom we had been blessed with. It has hung over our heads for several months. 

So we prayed.  Each week that I trusted God more with our finances, I began to see His wonderful plan unfold.  And as we committed ourselves to honoring Him and trusting Him each week, we saw more and more of this huge financial burden chip away.  It finally culminated this week when we discovered that this huge financial burden we had feared was totally incorrect.  The original bill was WRONG...we only owed a small fraction of what we thought we owed!  I sincerely believe this error was no coincidence.  I know that this burden was a journey orchestrated by God.  God brought us through these past several months to teach us an important lesson of relying on Him.  Somehow, somewhere, we'd become self-reliant without even realizing it.  He had to bring us back to the point that we relied on Him with all that we are. 

And as His perfect plan in this matter unfolded, I felt like the widow whose oil never ran out.  With her one bottle of oil, she filled every single container until there were no empty containers left.  By selling these bottles of oil, God richly provided for her and her son.         

We can expect the unexpected from God.  Though He does not always give us exactly what we ask for in prayer, He is faithful to give what is far better for us.  His goal isn't to spoil, but to grow us in His image. 

Expect the unexpected. 


In His Love, Cathy