Living In Blessings that used to be to be prayer request.

OK I want you guys to do something with me. Take a deep breath, inhale— exhale—release. 

Now, I want you to think about all the positive things that have happened to you this year. We have been forced and conditioned in these past nine months to think about all of the negative aspects of our lives concerning our jobs, our health, our families our friends etc. due to COVID-19 and the impact it has left on us individuals. 

Now before you go through your negative checklist of how you feel and the realities of your world I want you to think about your self in this current moment. You are alive, you are well, you are breathing, you are loved, you are cared for and most of all you are still here. 

I used to think that prayer requests were something that would happen like instantaneously and I was very naïve to think that I could just close my eyes and pray for something and then within the next minute or hour or day that it would just manifest that quickly.

 And I will say sometimes I get aside of myself and I think like I have been praying and praying and praying and it’s not happening. But I had to ask myself is it really not happening? Or is God just working behind the scenes?

God has the job of answering prayers and every prayer counts -no prayer is ever too big and no prayer is ever too small. He literally takes his time with all prayer request. However, it may not be answered in the shape form or fashion that we come up with in our minds. My prayer requests for this year- I wrote them down as 2020 manifestations were to be in good health, be financially stable, be loved,have a great job, eliminate some debt, travel to see different places, etc. But all of those things didn’t come as quickly as I thought that they would nor in an order that I thought that they should have went in and it made me realize that I have always been living in answered prayer request.   

I walked into my office the other day and I have a vision board that I haven’t touched probably within the last 10 months. And on the vision board I had a list of places that I wanted to go including Mexico, New York City ,I had Seattle on there and some other places. And then there is a box that says “things that I want”.. In that box I put an iPad with an Apple Pencil. And then there’s another box for money I want to have saved. There was a box for health and wellness and in that my notes were to work out 2 to 3 times a week and be at a certain weight and feel healthy. So when I went into the office it was for something random— I went in there to go grab like a sticky note or something and I just stopped and I looked at the vision board. All of the things that I envisioned for myself and I prayed for I could literally check off in those boxes.  I have been to all the places that I wanted to go in the places to go box.  I had purchased a new iPad so that way I could note my travels easier while I’m working and have something light weight to carry around. I have been on this major health kick and I have a trainer now who sees me not as like a client but as an individual with goals and she pushes me beyond any expectations I had ever set for myself. I had reached a goal of budgeting and saving and now I feel like I am more control of my finances.

 I say all of this to say that I am living in blessings that used to be prayer request. Without even realizing that God put things in order and put me in places that I wrote down and dreamed about going and aligned my thinking and my priorities to make sure that I was budgeting and financing and lowered my mortgage and bills. I had to in that moment thank God for what he did behind the scenes that I didn’t even pay attention to until I looked at that vision board and realized that all of my request had been answered. 

Nothing in life is on a perfect schedule and I struggle with the thought of my schedule not being perfect. I literally wake up every morning with an itinerary and it’s crazy to me because as much time and effort I put into trying to make sure that my life has some type of structure and some type of order, God throws boomerangs at me constantly throughout the day to put me in the mindset of just letting him do him. I cannot thank God enough for the times that he has sat me down and told me to be still and wait on him for all of these things to come into fruition. 

A COVID-19 nor a pandemic has stopped God from answering prayer requests..

I say all of this to say that I want you to just sit and reflect on everything that you have been through this year but also think and reflect on everything that you have been able to do this year that many people cannot say or no longer have the opportunity to do. My story is not your story but I hope it inspires you to just trust God in every aspect of your life put him first and all of your request will be granted— not in the order, fashion, or time that you feel like it should but just LIVE and watch how he does wonders in your life without you even noticing the time the request was answered.