By Megan Blansit
Founder of The Beautiful Movement - a youth ministry for high school girls. For more information, visit The Beautiful Movement’s Facebook page, where I post the time, place, and activity for each month
Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Have any of you been frustrated with this verse? Excuse my honesty, but I sure have! There are times I have prayed and pleaded for something… and not have a door opened or have that “thing” given to me. The first word in the verse above is “Ask.” “I’m tired of even asking you, God!” has been in my vocabulary, because at times I feel like a broken record, asking for the same thing and never seeing it come to pass. And the awesome thing, despite my mild temper tantrums, He still loves me and actually sits there with me through it.
One day, while in the kitchen, I was having a pity party, wondering if God would ever come through in certain situations (I would like to think I was making a pizza, but I can’t remember.) Either way, The Lord posed a question in my spirit, “Do you want your pizza before it’s ready or do you want all the toppings?
How many people have ever made a pizza? I’m no chef, but I do know a pizza will taste pretty nasty if you place all your toppings on the dough, but never place it in the oven. Or what about if you only spread the (cold) dough out and place pizza sauce on it? This may sound cheesy (no pun intended) but please stay with me. Making a pizza, along with making other recipes, involves a process. Think about how nasty most recipes would be if we only included half the ingredients or didn’t even follow the directions? That would be one messed up recipe!
Now, think about how this parallels with Christ. The Lord is THE master chef! He knows good and well what He is doing with your life. As humans, it is in our DNA to be impatient. We want all the answers NOW; we despise waiting. But sometimes, (and unfortunately) the Lord makes us wait. Is waiting a terrible thing? Is waiting a punishment? NO.
When we are in a waiting period, this is our time to rejoice! Why? Because something amazing is in the process of being birthed. God loves us enough NOT to do something halfway, friends! (pizza reference.) When God does something, it is perfect! He absolutely wants to see us happy and give us our hearts desires, but sometimes we have to wait because as much as we think we are ready for something, it may not be the right time. Also, some of the things we may be asking for are not the “toppings” for our life. I mean, what if you called Pizza Hut, ordered anchovies on your pizza, and then ended up hating them! In this case, it would have been better if someone knew your taste buds would be disgusted the minute you took a bite. Jesus knows what we will enjoy and what will be disastrous.
The Bible says the Lord knew you in your mothers womb, meaning your life is no accident; He has an incredible plan for your life, friend. If you are a child of the King, be assured the Lord has got your back! It’s time we as Christians stop looking at the waiting period as a valley and look at it as a period of praise. What if your “pizza” is about to be finished! What if the thing you keep asking the Lord for is right around the corner? Despite the situation, in the good and the bad, He is still God. I encourage you, friend, to keep asking… keep seeking… keep knocking. The Lord goes before you and is setting up everything perfectly.
Recently, I have kept the song “Trust in You,” by Lauren Daigle on repeat. The lyrics are beautiful and read: When you don’t move the mountains that I’m needing you to move, when you don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through, when you don’t give the answers as I cry out to you, I will TRUST in you…” Friend, if you’re tired of waiting, if you’re tired of seeking, I beg you to worship while you wait. One, it makes the waiting period sweeter and much more tolerable, and two, you’re only preparing yourself for the massive blessing coming your way! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat something halfway cooked or halfway prepared. I also don’t want half of Gods will, I want all of it! It WILL be worth the wait. And remember, friend, waiting for something does not mean that you are forgotten or underserving.
