Opportunity

Opportunity.

That's the word I think of a lot when I think of prayer and asking God for things.

Opportunity.

He gives me opportunities to practice what I ask for. Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Love, Self-Control. And I've realized... I constantly fail at these opportunities. Instead most times I find myself saying, "God I asked you to help me be kinder, not get into a fight." And I'm sure He's up there in Heaven chuckling at me, saying "Oh daughter, don't you see that was there for you to practice your kindness."

I didn't see this until last night. My sarcasm isn't the nicest thing, or way to joke with people. And maybe it's something I need to stop doing. Because I never realized that it could hurt someone until last night. And cause a "fight." But after I (like a mature adult) stormed away from the "fight" because I didn't want to say something else that might hurt this person and I needed to cool off, I realized what God wanted me to do. To resolve the conflict, to apologize and to show that even though I didn't mean to hurt this person sometimes I do just that. SO I went back and we talked, and I felt better and they felt better. And I thanked God for a very understanding friend.

You see no one ever said that this life would be easy. To walk in the footsteps of Christ, but just because it isn't easy doesn't mean it's not worth it. God gives us so many opportunities to put into practice what Jesus constantly talked about in the Bible. And it's amazing how many time those opportunities go unnoticed in our lives, even though they may not be exactly what we asked for, they bring about what we were asking.

So we run into a person that we don't get along with, opportunity to practice love and kindness in so many ways. We get stuck behind the slowest driver in the world, opportunity to practice patience. We can't make the payment on the bills or grocery shopping, opportunity to practice faith and trust in God. There are so many more, but the opportunities are always there, but what matters is what we do with them.

We can continue to go about our days, living our mundane lives, ignoring the constant nudging and opportunities from God. Or we can do something different, take a step in the direction of Jesus' path and grab each opportunity that He gives us. Yeah sometimes we'll mess up even when we take the opportunity. But God's grace is so amazing, He'll give us another chance.

It's not easy and God tells us it's not. But life would be so much better if we learned to step into Jesus footprints, to practice what we ask for. to take up our cross, grab our opportunities and follow after Him.

Grabbing at my opportunities,

HIS and yours,

Cami