I think I can speak for most Christians when I say that I love when God gives me a great big “yes.” When His plans for me and my ideas line up. When I ask for something and he responds by giving me exactly that.
Oh, Wait…that never happens!
All too often, the answer is no. That is frustrating.
Earlier this year, I began praying about taking a mission trip in the summer through an organization called WorldWide Witness. I prayed fervently about where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to do. Eventually, it felt like I was being called to participate in a mission to American Samoa, an island in the South Pacific. I learned more about the mission, connected with another girl and was all ready to begin fundraising.
Then, I woke up one day with a heavy feeling in my chest of.
The answer was “no.”
Money wasn’t lining up, the need for a summer internship wasn’t working with the trip schedule and nothing was coming together like it should. On top of that, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Lord was saying “no” to me.
This whole time, I had prayed about where to go but not whether I should go in the first place. I think my insatiable desire to travel had disguised itself as an answer to a prayer.
God had now given me a clear “no” and it stung a little.
We all want things to go the way that we think they should. Getting excited about something and then having it just not quite work out is devastating. However, we as humans have such a finite view of our future — we can’t see how every little thing is going to affect us. Our focus is an extremely narrow one. God, on the other hand, can see the bigger picture. He has a map laid out for each of us, and though we may be convinced that we are supposed to do one certain thing, He can see that it may not be in His grand plan for us and will intervene.
Learning how to take “no” for an answer is one of the great struggles of our human existence, especially since we cherish being in control. It’s not always pleasant, pretty or understandable in the moment, but for every “no” we receive there are a hundred “yes’s” waiting for us a little way down the road.
God’s got us.
