It is hard sometimes to fully grasp that the answers to our prayers are not what we thought they would look like. Very rarely have I ever seen exactly what I prayed for unfold as I wanted or thought it would. God’s ways are always more than our expectations and we can never be disappointed by them being less than what we asked. That right there is exciting, it’s amazing and yet we can still find a reason to be disappointed because of our “in the box thinking”.
More often than not, I realize that He just isn’t going to drop something in my lap packaged nice and neat to appease my natural sight. That would be too easy and frankly an answer to MY desire, but is it really what He wants for me? God is a great craftsman and He carefully crafts out His plans step by step down to the very last detail. He doesn’t miss a thing, but in our human limitations, we can and sometimes we do. We have to see beyond our ability and our desire to see His plan, His desire, His will and that means sometimes we have to grow out of the very thing we asked for. Honestly, to see beyond our natural requires us to grow and sometimes we are more than ready for that growth, yet we are not ready for the pruning that must come before it. This is why He just doesn’t drop nice and neat gifts in our laps because than we will always be confined to a system, a thought system that will always confine us.
Some of the hardest things for us to outgrow and move on are people and places. This can be both disappointing, heartbreaking and difficult to understand why God would think this is necessary. If you are wondering why this is necessary than I can say with full confidence that these things we hold on to become the hinderances to our growth. Why? Because these things have become our comfort zones, our refuges, our familiar and sometimes our idols. Without us even realizing that this box has also became our prison. A place where we are surviving, but not thriving. Far too long, we have lived by the saying “Bloom where you are planted” and ran with it as if it is the key to our spiritual growth. But let me shed a little light on that phrase, when we are fully planted in HIM (abiding in the branch) is only when we “bloom” because apart from Him, His light and His living waters we wither. I’m not saying those places or people are bad or work against us, what I’m saying is this these places/people we hold on to will cause us to work against Him, not by their doing, but by our disobedience.
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:2-4 CSB
Growing also means that we will also outgrow ourselves. Our routines, mindsets, limitations and boundaries that have became apart of the old season. These things have no role in what His plan for our next season of our growth holds. We aren’t meant to remain the same (glory to glory remember?), but we are meant to remain in Him. We won’t always produce the same amount of fruit and for some of us, it won’t even be the same kind of fruit, but we will always produce (just as the scripture above states).
So trust when He tells you to let go and trust when He says He has better because it’s true. It’s not in no way diminishing the last place or people you were growing with in the past. It’s just that His better differs much more than our better. Remember, He is the one who will do exceedingly and abundantly above all we can ask or think. Take Him at His word because I can guarantee you, it does get much better than this!
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