"God’s Timing… Then What?" - Abbie Joy Daniels
Have you ever prayed like crazy for something, received it years later and then it wasn’t exactly what you thought?
You get the new job you were praying for and it’s great!… but you also have 10x the responsibility as before…
You have a baby and you’re so in love!… but you’re stressed out, touched out, and just maxed out in all capacities.
Have you ever thought you’d be “so much better off” once that one thing happens, and then it does and your mind is in the same dissatisfied spot it’s always been in, thinking about what’s next or what could make life easier and better?
Kind of like in Spider-Man, with great power [blessing] comes great responsibly, right?
I want to encourage you and let you in on something... You’re standing in multiple answered prayers right now! You are right where you’re supposed to be! God can provide contentment in your situation right now. God’s timing is perfect, He is faithful, and He sees you!
Contentment Through the Fruits of the Spirit
The Lord wants us to thrive and wants what’s best for us. He saw that you could handle this blessing (through His strength- not ours) and He gave it to you!
But maybe He gave it to you knowing it would be hard. Maybe he gave it to you knowing it would cause you to look to Him because you can’t do it on your own.
Maybe He wants your life to be fruitful. Maybe He wants your life to be blooming with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22).
Maybe He is so loving that He wants to give you your heart’s desires, but also wants you to learn what will truly satisfy you.
Christian contentment can be defined as an inner peace that joyfully submits to God's providence rather than relying on changing circumstances. Rooted in Christ's sufficiency rather than self-sufficiency, it is a learned grace that allows believers to remain steadfast in both abundance and hardship (which can happen at the same time).
Through that abundance and hardship, exercising the fruit of the spirit helps us to become more Christ-like. In the same light, becoming more Christ-like helps us become more fruitful in the spirit which will naturally lead to more joy, peace, patience, and overall contentment.
Weakness Leading to Strength
“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV
The Lord is faithful throughout our hardships (and through our abundance). He is close and hears us when we ask for help. In times of weakness, we are strong, because the Lord is strong. We can allow our weakness to point us to Christ and by doing so we gain strength!
This also helps us build a habit of relying on Christ, making it feel more natural as time goes on.
Abundance Highlighting Weakness
Hardship in abundance is quick reminder (a quick gut punch for that matter) that we can’t do anything in our own strength.
The abundance of new files, clients, and customers at a job highlight that you are one person with a workload capacity.
The abundance of people at your church highlight that more volunteers and staff are needed!
The abundance of family, pets, toys, clothes, and just stuff in the home highlights lack of structure, organization and routine.
Will you focus on the abundance? Or will you focus on the highlighted weakness?
Focusing on the abundance reframes the weakness as more abundance that just need some attention.
Focusing on the weakness will turn your season of abundance into just another season of hardship.
That new phase of life you prayed for will be exactly that.. a new phase that you’ve never experienced before. A beautiful, fun, exciting, abundant new phase! But a new phase comes with a learning curve. In that weakness, rely on Christ!