Asking

Taken from a letter to a friend:

James 1:2-8, 12, 16-17 (The Message)

2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5-8If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

... 12Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life....

... 16-17So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle....


Notes in the margin of my bible:

"Be certain about what you're asking for and then have the courage to ask for it and believe God will give it to you at the right time."

Sometimes I think we worry that when we want something with such intensity, that automatically it's a bad thing and therefore we shouldn't want it, because we're not supposed to want anything besides God. But what if what we're desiring is what God wants to give us in the first place?

Maybe then the challenge is seeing if our fear will get in the way of us actually accepting a gift from God. Maybe part of trusting is realizing that when God gives, it is precisely that, a gift. Pure and true, nothing deceitful, no strings attached, simply ours to accept and enjoy.

Sometimes I think we forget that part of being loved means God thinks we're worth it, and that He wants to give us things simply for that reason. So where does that leave us? I'm beginning to think that instead of beating ourselves up about wanting something with this much intensity, that perhaps what God really wants us to do is to step out, be bold and ask Him for it without a second thought, and trust that He'll deliver because He loves to answer us when we call.

So here I am then. Calling... and waiting for an answer.