Breakup With HeartbreakPrøve

The Prize is His Presence

I recently had a conversation with a friend who has gone through some of the most traumatic life experiences you could ever endure, all packed into a decade throughout her twenties. From almost losing her mom to cancer to her son being diagnosed with a terminal disease to a miscarriage and told she would never give birth to being diagnosed with a genetic code mutation. I mean, the list goes on. Ten years later, she's caked in baby puke from her one-year-old twins, healthy and living the life she always dreamed of. How did these miracles happen? How did she go from being dealt impossible cards to basking in blessings? When I asked, she said something that shifted my outlook, "I stopped demanding God come through for me and started enjoying His presence as the prize."

For years people would shame her for not having enough faith. That shame haunted her prayers as she eagerly sought God to bless her with a baby. She memorized all the scriptures, made daily declarations, and was confident with all her being that God could do a miracle. So why didn't He? She said things shifted when she realized she was missing out on the precious life right in front of her and the beautiful children she had adopted from West Africa while she wished she had something that was outside her control. When she finally gave up 'trying to have faith' and accepted the gift of life in front of her, she found immeasurable joy in the blessings she already had. Her faith now rested in God's goodness rather than an expectation of something He could do for her.

What a posture of faith! It made me realize that sometimes we hinder our healing journey because we want to fight battles only God can. It's beautiful to find our voice, engage our authority and declare the Word of God boldly over our circumstances. Still, when this leads to striving and idealizing our desire above our passionate love for Jesus, we become anxiety-ridden with a religious agenda to make a miracle happen rather than trust God to be God.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 puts it into perspective. In summary, it says, "Quit defining your existence by the things you can see and realize you were made for more!" Of course, that's the Esther Translation.

So how do we shift to this mindset? I believe we must first let go of a few untruths:

1. Let go of believing God promised to give you everything you desire. God promises to put desires in your heart to fulfill you, not give you everything you ask for (Psalm 37:4). If you are seeking Him, you can trust your desires to reflect His will and, with a posture of humility, ask Him for what He already placed in your heart.

2. Let go of outcomes. God wants to bless you, no doubt, but HOW He wants to write your story, surprise you and bring glory to His name is totally up to Him. How God showed up for someone else will be different than how He shows up for you.

3. Let go of idealizing what you want and start loving what He's already given you. There is a holy infatuation with the presence of God that comes with resting in our faith. When we can get as excited about the love of Jesus as we do about getting the thing we want, we become more connected to eternity and who we were authentically made to be.

God's presence is the prize, not a consolation prize. It's everything you could ever crave and more. Do you believe that? Spend some time today sitting in His presence and resting your faith in His goodness.