The Inconvenience of an Answered Prayer!

Hey Hey Hey Ya'll!!! How are you OUTM Community? All I can say is Honor and Glory to God, for the ALL the Great things He has Done!!!!

I have to first off thank you all for the likes, the shares, the subscribes, the comments both in the blog and to my phone, the encouragement and positive words is just confirmation that I am discerning His voice, which is a great feeling, especially in times when I can feel unsure! Does anyone know what that's like? Let me know in the comments.

"Who Has the Access" was right on time for me and from the sound of it, it was right on time for many others as well. The timing was paramount on my end because, I was actually going on travel the day after its release. As I was up making the final touches to the post. I remembered that I needed to check in for my flight... True story y'all. If you know me, you know I like really nice things, especially stuff for the home. If I really want something I'm going to get it no matter the cost. However, there are times where I'm unwavering to my frugal nature. In this instance, booking my flight was one of those times. Now, I will be honest with you, I had to be frugal, because the spirit of procrastination had me in a crunch, waiting as long as I did to book a flight caused the prices elevate. Can you imagine, that I had an attitude with the airlines, when in reality I should have had an attitude with myself. Remaining true to my frugal nature, I opted not to select and pay for my seat when booking my outbound flight, I would let the airline assign it at no cost. Upon checking in, I discovered that my seat was 32E at the very back. This made me a bit apprehensive - 32E, really? Lord! How am I going to manage that with this bum hip for an almost 3-hour flight. I began to look up the pitch of the seats on this and other aircrafts and noticed that the further back you go, the shorter the pitch. Oh God, what am I going to do?

THE PRAYER

Well, I just posted " Who has the Access" and told the OUTM Community that Prayer = Access right, so what do you think I did... that's right! I prayed. Oh, and my prayer was glorious! on top of traveling mercies, and the great anticipation f this trip, I even asked for a first-class seat, because Lord you know the pain that I go through (LOL). I was good, I was satisfied with my conversation with the Lord, went to bed, confirmed all of the activities that I was going to do the day of my arrival (spa day, brunch with the ladies, all of that). I was set! My plans aren’t your plans, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord (Isaiah 55-8 CEB). Next day, made my way to the airport (EARLY), checked in, grabbed some food, popped an earbud in and sat at the gate. Time passed and they began to call the groups, I of course was the last group to be called on this full flight heading to Texas. In the midst of the groups being called and them starting and stopping in between groups, my AP texted me after reading "Who has the Access" and was explaining her delay in posting her blog. I was so engulfed in my response to her, that it was as if time paused and I literally stopped hearing anything else around me. People were in front of me that I assumed were waiting on my same flight, so I didn't think twice, because they were still there; soon as I pressed send, I looked up to realize that the gate door had been closed. In shock, I started banging on the door and realized that it was not going to reopen.

Are you ready to trust God for what you prayed for?

To make a long story short, I went to customer service console hoping she could announce to the crew what happened so they could open the door and let me on, she nicely refused, and I was put on a standby list for a flight that was leaving an hour and half later, which of course delayed my plans even further. Proverbs 16:9 says, A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. My first response to this inconvenience was annoyance, but then I remembered what I prayed for the night before, so I was like. Lord. I can't pray for one thing and be upset when you start working it out, I quickly got myself together, and embraced the moment that I was in. I began to make my way over to the gate, which was on the other side of the building. In doing so, I embarked on something that I had personally never seen before, it was a youth choral singing in the halls of the airport. The experience warmed my heart and bought an additional comfort to my waiting period.

Some situations ONLY require you and God to be involved!

I shared what I was going through with a friend and immediately that person went negative. I tried to attribute the negativity to fact that the person hates to fly, but the longer I stayed on the phone allowing those negative thoughts into my ear gates, the easier it became for it to penetrate my spirit, which in turn for a short space of time began to shift my faithful thoughts to anxiousness. Immediately, what came to mind is me hearing various pastors warn us about what we let into our eye gate and ear gate, and how we must guard it; IT's TRUE ya'll!! Although I knew what I prayed for, and I knew what I was trusting, and having faith in, (regardless of the setbacks) I allowed this person to speak or imply their pessimism, which caused my thoughts to shift from " OK GOD, you got this and I see what you are doing! my seat will be better than before" to " OMG, is this it? Is this a sign to abort mission? Will this be my last flight? What's going to happen to my kids? See, the enemy is very crafty and will use people to take you off track with your thoughts and fill it will negativity, cynicism, defeatism, anxiousness, uncertainty, unease and worry. It is important to recognize that, and realign your thoughts with GOD. Proverbs 4:22-24 says My son, give attention to my words;Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.

RESETT (Reprogramming Exercise that Strengthens us Even in Trying Times)

I had to take a segment out of my book and RESETT I had release my fears and worries that tried to embed my mind, based on the thoughts of someone else and allow God to take over. I needed the Holy Spirit to replace all thoughts of negativity with thoughts of faith, trust, positivity, optimism, confidence, and peace, not the peace of man but the peace of God. I prayed, because this phone call needed to end and it did. I needed to recalibrate and not only pray those thoughts away, but pray for the person that was carrying them. Phillippians 4:6-7 TLB says: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

God's Promises

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV. The flight was additionally delayed, but my spirit was not. I waited patiently and just embraced the moment and stood in anticipation of what God was going to do. About an hour after the flight was scheduled to leave, the boarding crew began to board the flight. Standby's are based on a first come first serve basis (from what I learned) so there were about 10 passengers in front of me. I stood at the desk and watched the board as the seats started to fill; I was like Lord, I know you are going to get me a seat on this flight. As the standby's started to be called, I noticed that the 2 passengers that was called right before me, were seated in the back. I made peace with my seat being in the back as well, at that point I just wanted to get on the flight. Lo and behold... when they called my name, I was seated in 9E, I was elated and immediately praised God!! It was not first class, but God came through!! My seat was comfortable, with a longer pitch and although I was still in the middle seat, I was not in the back, I was not sqwooched, and I was so very thankful. I was delayed, but not denied and the inconvienence of my aswered prayer was all worth it. My plans at my destination worked out just as it was supposed to and everything that I had planned, happened, because God has a way of working EVERYTHING out! When I told people how I missed my flight, sitting right at the gate, they looked at me like I had a miss, but all along I knew that this was something that I had to share, because there was a lesson to be learned.

REFLECTION

How have you been responding to a prayer that you have been waiting for God to answer?

Has an answered prayer been inconvenient to you?

Can you identify a person (s) in your life whose normal response is on the negative spectrum? If so, how do you intend on moving forward with that energy?

ALL answered prayers ARE NOT convenient

In summary, God may indeed answer our prayers, even though it may not appear so to us, because the response may not align with our expectations. The response to our prayers might be delayed, it may bring some unease, or it may even disrupt our intended course of action. Nevertheless, any which way it may come, it is up to us to keep the faith during the process. It is up to us to respond like we have faith and trust in GOD! God has the final say on whether or not He will respond, how He responds or when He responds. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1John 5:14

Be confident in God! Trust God! Have Faith in God!

WORSHIP SELECTION

Love you all! Talk to you soon. Like, Share and Subscribe