I am writing tonight as one amazed, humbled girl. I have seen the Lord answer my prayers on multiple occasions, but never so quickly, so boldly as He is doing right now. I'd like to share a little bit of scripture with you today that has just taken on new depth in my heart, and then I'll explain why.
It's the basis of my faith that I take every word of scripture as truth, but y'all know the feeling when God just blows your expectations out of the water? I'm living in that moment right now. I'm singing and dancing in my room in Oxford at 1:30am in this moment. I'm humbled to the point of tears, to the point of laughter, to the point that the only words I can utter are "You are so faithful, Lord." This moment is nothing short of blissful, you guys, because Jesus WILL do whatever we ask in His name, and that is just plain wonderful.
Maybe I should take a moment to clarify that in His name and beside His name are not the same thing. I have been so guilty of masking my selfish prayers by putting them beside that sweet name.
- "Jesus, please let me be accepted into the grad school that I want to go to. I know it's one of the tops in the country and that is one heck of a stretch, but You, God, You can do anything. Come on. Please? Amen."
-"Jesus, I really haven't prepared like I should have for this exam, but You know all of the answers in the universe. Mind sharing a few with me? Amen."
-"Lord, you know that Sally Sue's attitude is the pits. Please work on her before she drives me crazy." (and all God's people said "amen," am I right?)
Guys, I am so ashamed by the prayers that I sometimes catch myself uttering. I'm ashamed that I've been guilty of taking scripture out of context. God never said "Whatever you ask for your benefit, this I will do, that you, Carrie, may be pleased. If you ask me anything that your sinful, earthly heart desires, I will do it." And what a relief it is that those were not His words! He never told us that we'd always get what we want, but he did say that He will always grant requests that are asked in His name with the intention of glorifying Him.
So, what answered prayer, specifically, am I talking about? Girlfriends, y'all. I'm talking about girlfriends who pray with me, who pray for me, who pray circles around my life. Girls who love Jesus and whose hearts are centered on His love and grace, making it natural for them to exhibit love and grace in our friendship. Girls who are more than surface-level pals. Girls who love me with a love like Paul describes in 1 Corinthians--patiently, kindly, selflessly, gracefully, and girls who don't rejoice in my wrongdoing, but get on their knees and pray me into the right direction, the right attitude, the right spirit. After a good little stretch of whining to God that "there just aren't enough women like this," I decided to hit the floor and pray hard about it. I prayed hard that He would show me just one, and that would be enough. Praise the Lord, for He does not settle at giving His babies just "enough!" Did you see the second verse in that picture up there? He loves us and wants to give us good things, even more good things than our earthly parents want to give us. Even more than we want to give to the people we love most...because we simply can not out-love Jesus. So he gave me not one, but several sweet, God-fearing ladies who have filled my heart and loved me unconditionally. He gave me friendships that, instead of distracting me from His goodness, draw me nearer to Him. I am so thankful that He did, y'all, because girls just need other girls. We find so much fullness in fellowship with other women because their hearts so closely match our own--women's hearts desire a love and comfort that only Christ can give. Next to that love, the love of sweet, Godly friends is one of the greatest blessings we can ask for. Go ahead. Seek. Ask Jesus for friends like that--he promised that, if it glorifies Him, it's as good as ours. Sweet deal, huh?
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