I sometimes take a class at my gym in the morning, and
on those mornings, I am famished when I get to work. I want to eat everything. As I walked into work on this particular day,
I shot out a quick thought/prayer that someone would bring bagels into the
office. (Do I ever bring
bagels? No.) Oh, I have snacks in my snack drawer
(almonds, bread and peanut butter, popcorn, etc.) And I always mix up a bowl of oatmeal for a
post-workout second breakfast, complete with blueberries, ground flax seed and
walnuts. I will not starve at work. But there were no bagels this morning. And I was fine. I had my snacks at the requisite times
(usually 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) And lunch
was good.
When I walked to the kitchen late in the day to wash
out my silicone popcorn popper bowl, what did I see on the table? BAGELS.
I laughed out loud. And I ate
one. A little late, but it was wonderful.
My former boss, John, has been posting daily prayers
on Facebook from the book, Draw the Circle:
The 40 Day Prayer Challenge. On
my bagel day, it was Day 17 – Do Not Delay.
Below is what he posted:
“Oh
Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not,
for your own sake, O my God.” Daniel
9:19 EVS
“Until
recently, I attached an ASAP to every prayer.
I wanted God to answer my prayer as soon as possible. But this is no longer my agenda. I don’t want easy or quick answers because I
have a tendency to mishandle the blessings that come too easily or too
quickly. I take the credit for them, or
I take for granted. So now I pray it
will take long enough and be hard enough for God to receive all the glory.
I’m
not praying ASAP prayers; I’m praying ALAT prayers. As long as it takes. I’m going to get in my prayer circle, and I’m
not coming out until God answers. I’m
praying with confidence. I believe that
God never over promises or under delivers.
He always delivers on His promise, but He does it on His timeline!”
“Most
prayer requests have to be refined.”
I
had to wait a while for my bagel, and it popped up when I least expected
it. I went on with my day when it didn’t
show up when I really wanted it to, and I managed to have a great day.
I
have been praying for a husband for about 40 years (so has my mother). During this time, I have gone
about my life and am managing to have a great life. All of my days are not full of rainbows and
unicorns. I have good days and bad days
like everyone else. Me wanting a husband is a fraction of what my life is
about, just like the bagel was a tiny part of my workday. But I still want(ed) both of them.
I
will continue to pray, but will try to keep John’s ALAT prayer devotional in
mind as I do. It’s easy to get
discouraged. I have single friends (male
and female) that lament not having that special person in their life. They talk of giving up. “There’s no one out there for me!” “I give up!”
I have thought that too from time-to-time. But it’s not true! I believe that one day I will walk around a
corner and what will I see? MY BAGEL A little late. But I have no doubt he will be
wonderful.
