At the beginning of each year. our church sets aside 2 weeks for fasting and prayer.  We are just finishing up the first of those 2 weeks and it has been an amazing time of connecting with God.

However, a situation happened with one of my children the other day that made me think about our focus when we are looking for a miracle.  We often go into a season like this with expectations on what we want God to do. And we should pray with expectation! Our God is Great and Mighty, a loving and powerful father and no request we have is too big for him.  But often, we expect him to work in the way we want him to and sometimes, we miss what he is doing because it didn’t come in the way we wanted or expected.

As my kids and I began attending our nightly prayer meetings, after the first night one of them became discouraged because there hadn’t been a specific prayer for something she has been struggling with.  She told me a few things that she wanted to happen.  Wednesday rolled around and she had a very difficult day.  Something happened during the day that brought not only an extreme amount of fear and anxiety but left her not wanting to attend the service that night.  I left it up to her, but encouraged her to attend.  She did.  When the time for praying for others came around, every thing that she had told me she wanted to happen, happened.  Her specific need was not only brought up, but prayed for by more than 1 person.  Several people gathered around her and prayed for her one on one.  Not only that but something even more specific that she said also happened.  As we went home we talked about how God had shown her that not only does he see what she is going though, but he hears her!

In the middle of the night, she woke me up in a state of fear.  We talked through it and we talked about how God was with her.  Her words to me were, “but I need a miracle!”  I told her, you got one!  Tonight!  God showed up in a special way showing you that he sees and hears you.

You see the problem this is a problem we all have.  We want more of God, we want God to move in our lives, BUT we want him to do it the way we think he should and when we want him to.  When we do that, often, we miss the miraculous things he is doing.  God tells us himself in the book of Isaiah that he doesn’t think the way we do or work the way we do.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.”         Isaiah 55:8-9

God has His own plan and purpose and as the book of Job (Job 42:2) tells us His plans will NOT be thwarted.  If you are praying to get something from God and to get it the way you want it, you are not only missing the whole point of prayer but you are going to miss out on the miraculous things that God does.  Don’t miss the miracle.  Don’t pray and wait in a spirit of expectation and then miss out because it doesn’t happen the way you want it to.  This is a lesson we all need!  Many times I have to say , “ok Lord, you are God and I am not, so do it your way…because you know far more than I do about what is best for me.”  Don’t miss the miracle! Trust God to do what only he can do and trust that His way of doing it, is the best.