Word For Your Weekend - Seeing Jesus In The Details - Part 3
Seeing Jesus in the details is often hard to do. Your situation may seem like it is about to engulf you. The enemy knows just where to hit you and when you are at your weakest.
For me personally, that is a lack of sleep. I truly begin to lose any of the marbles I have left rolling around when I don’t get rest. That is why this story from another special needs parent in the trenches just resonates so vividly for me.
My friend has a little love that does not sleep. At this particular point my friend was going on mere hours of sleep for several days. She was truly in no condition to drive, work and barely functioning…having difficulty forming thoughts and just functioning normally. For days, prayers for rest and sleep had been continually on her tongue. It seemed as though God wasn’t listening. When very clearly the Lord spoke in her spirit. She heard the Lord whisper to her you need to be renewed. You need to be praying for renewal. It was as if a supernatural light bulb went off in her heart and mind. Her prayers changed to asking God for renewal and to be refreshed. The very next day she was able to function well and to care for her husband and children even amidst the lack of sleep.
God didn’t change the circumstances, He gave a new way to pray and to see Him as the one who could sustain and refresh. She hasn’t ever prayed for sleep again. She still doesn’t get sufficient sleep, but our all-sufficient God allows her to be renewed.
Praying for the circumstances and situations you face as a special needs parent is exactly what we are to do. Jesus said so in John 14:14 (ESV), If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Scripture also says in 1 John 5:14 (ESV), And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. I believe my friend's story about her encounter with Jesus is key because the Lord longs for fellowship with his children, and it is often in time spent in prayer that our viewpoint changes and we see that we need to be praying in His will.
Our circumstance doesn’t have to change…our view must shift to Jesus.
Think about...
- Are you praying for things with only one focus in mind? Do your prayers need to shift to a different focus?
- Are you spending time pouring your heart out to the Lord and then taking time to listen to how He responds?
- Are you narrowed in on your situation/problem/circumstance more than you are narrowed in on His perfect will for your life?
Prayer...
Father God, help us to have eyes that are set on You, ears ready to hear what You want to teach us, and hearts ready to accept our situations as opportunities to see You move in our lives. Allow us the ability to trust in Your plan even when it hurts. My friend Mr. Jeff Davidson said, “When we feel we cannot trust God’s actions in our life, we must trust His heart.” Lord, help us to trust your heart.