Which Way to Go?

When something unexpectedly came across my pathway, it forced me to re-examine prayer, decision making, and how growth relates to decisions.

LOS ANGELES, CA - I recently was presented a job offer. It came out of the blue. I wasn't looking for it. I wasn't expecting it.  However, it was a job that I could do with experience from the past. The whole situation troubled me a bit, and I realized it was because it was part of a growing and learning experience and that there were things I needed to work through to resolve it. 

First of all, I realized that I had not been specific enough in prayer requests in the past.  I had prayed for work opportunities.  But in reality, I wanted opportunities that were in a new direction I was moving, not something similar to what I had done in the past.  So my prayer was answered, as a work opportunity had come, and with the answer, I realized I had asked amiss by being too general. God can and will answer prayer.  We think He will 'understand what we mean' when we pray generalities, but I realized I needed to lay it out exactly what I needed. I had not done that.

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The second thing I realized is that God will answer according to our level of growth. I had 'opportunity to return' to something of the pass. I saw it symbolically as a step on a stair case. God could answer me laterally within my comfort zone, and I could stay on the same level, and do something of the past, or if I grew enough with faith and courage, I could move up to the next step. I realized the situation was challenging me as to where I was in my spiritual growth. It was a big wake up call to me to not just pray a casual, general prayer, but to be specific.

In the end, I decided not to move in the direction of the past. I decided to move in the direction of new things opening up. However, the whole process was quite valuable in realizing how faith and growth are related to making decisions, and that we can either stay in a comfort zone, or grow.

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