Be Careful What You Wish (and pray) For!

A few weeks ago in our staff meeting the camp director shared this old prayer with us:

"Oh God, do not give me tasks equal to my powers,
But give me powers equal to my tasks.
For I want to be stretched by things too great for me.
I want to grow through the greatness of my tasks,
But I shall need Your help for the growing."
(E. Stanley Jones)

As we went around the table sharing our feedback about this prayer, my mind went back to my ideas about living risky that I wrote about here before.

My initial response was that this prayer sounded like a "be careful what you wish for" kind of statement.

For example, I explained that:
I had prayed to get out of New Jersey, and God moved me all the way to Montana
much farther than I was expecting to go
I had prayed for a food service camp job and ended up at YAA
doing much more than I was expecting to do
I had prayed for a growth opportunity, and God opened a door for me to speak at a conference
much more than I thought I could do

I was quick to emphasize that the paths God led me down always turned out to be quite good, even though they were bigger and more challenging than I expected or wanted.

Isaiah 55:8 - 10 (NLT) reads:

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

I've been slowly learning to rejoice in the fact that God's ways are higher than mine, and praying that I will develop more of an attitude of willingness to confidently step up and accept the challenges/opportunities that He presents me with.

Here's a few popluar statements we hear about this subject:
~God may not always call the equipped, but He will always equip the called
~If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it
~Just do your best, God will do the rest

I think it all comes back to seeing ourselves as God sees us - full of potential to do great things for Him and to let Him do great things through us!

What areas of your life do you see yourself holding back? Why?
Give those reasons to God.
Surrender yourself to Him, and then stand back and see what happens!
I guarantee you will be blessed and be a blessing to others in the process.


If you have a personal story of a time that God kicked you out of your comfort zone, please share it in the comments section.




Pride Moment:


Thank you to everyone who was praying about my presentation at the Christian Camp and Conference Association's Northern Rockies and Northwest Super Sectional Conference. (That name sounds so impressive.) It went very well and I was encouraged to receive positive reviews and compliments from my peers.

The picture is huge so you can read the writing : )