Gifts You Asked For, But Didn’t Find Under the Tree

Quote:  We all walk around in the midst of answered prayers.
You are an answered prayer, and you have received an answered prayer.

Some Thoughts:  Do you remember a Christmas when you didn’t receive a gift you were longing for, or even had asked for aloud?

Maybe you received a gift you didn’t want or could fathom ever using?  (These are the kinds that are “re-gifted” or become “White Elephant Gifts”.  Ever have that happen?

Prayers can be like this.  Not every prayer has been answered in the way we wanted.  Because of human nature, we often focus on the prayers that did not come to fruition in the exact way we had hoped.  YET, every single one of us has received an answered prayer, whether big or small.

Sometimes we don’t receive an answer immediately.  Do we give up too easily?

One Christmas I asked specifically for a “grown up” Bible.  As the day went on and I hadn’t received it, I gave up and questioned “why?”  Why would I not get a BIBLE, of all the things I had asked for?!  Did I not make it clear enough?  Transfer this over to my prayer life: “God, why wouldn’t you have answered?  This is such a good thing!  Of COURSE this would be “according to Your will”…Did I not have enough faith?  Did I miss a step?  Wasn’t I clear in what I was asking?  Was I asking for the wrong reason?”  (shame, shame, upon more shame)

Here’s the end of the Christmas wish story: my grandmother had heard of my request and asked permission to be the one who gave me my first “grown-up” Bible.  We had a tradition of getting up early in the morning and opening gifts at our own home, then going to my grandparents’ who lived in the country on a farm, where Christmas was a big celebration with cousins and aunts and uncles.  We ended the day with the grandparents who lived nearer our home in a nearby town.

All day long I felt sadness that I hadn’t received the Bible.  I don’t remember any of the gifts I unwrapped that day, only the sadness and the questions of “why no Bible?”  You probably have guessed the ending…It was at the last stop of the day, when my grandmother gave me the most beautiful Bible ever!  It was even more beautiful than I had imagined!  It was white with blue-gilded edges, and had my name engraved in gold on the front.  That grandmother and I had a special relationship with each other that I didn’t have with any of my other grandparents.  Because of our relationship and the love that obviously was expressed in the gift, the “answer” was even bigger and better than I had longed for!  Do you see a similarity here with our loving heavenly Father?

I know this isn’t in the Bible, like some might think it is, but I’ve heard it said: God answers prayers in more than two ways of “Yes” or “No.”  He answers, “Yes and Here’s More” or “Yes, I thought You’d Never Ask”, or “No, Not Yet,” or “No, I love you too much.”  Someone recently reminded me that sometimes God even answers with “Wait.”

As humans with restless hearts and insatiable desires, we always hunger for more, always pleading with God for the next good thing. And as believers living in a broken world, our hearts ache for what we prayed for and did not receive.

But we can’t lose sight of ALL the answers – gifts from God.

Maybe you prayed for a friend, and now you’ve found one. Maybe you hoped for a good job, and the right position finally came your way. Maybe you wanted a home to call your own, a supportive community, relief from physical pain, or healing from emotional hurts you’ve carried — and now you have received exactly this.

These answers may not have come immediately, but they came.

We cannot lose sight of the truth that we are living among answered prayers. (And often we ourselves are the answers to someone else’s prayers.)

The spiritual writer Thomas Merton said, “There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” Among all the griefs, losses, and broken hearts that this hard life holds for each one of us, we cannot lose sight of this holy fact:

We walk around in the midst of answered prayers.  You are an answered prayer, and you have received an answered prayer.

Prayer:  Lord, I choose to bring everything to the feet of Jesus and listen for the answer, knowing that whatever the answer, it is perfect, coming from a perfect heart of love.  Thank You for Your great love and great patience.

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