I recently asked a celebrity speaker and writer to write the forward to my upcoming book. I was convinced if she said, “Yes,” her influence and large platform would get the book into the hands of more women than I could. She appeared to be very enthusiastic about the book’s message—God wants to glorify Himself through us to make Him famous to the world. It just made sense to me that God would want her to endorse my book. I prayed and fasted that He would open her calendar to read my manuscript and write the forward.

After two months of waiting and hoping, I finally received a reply—“No.”

Due to a busy speaking and writing season, she couldn’t commit. You may be thinking, as I was, Well, duh! I mean, come on Lisa, you’re no celebrity. So why do you think a celebrity would carve time out of their busy schedule to write your forward? True. But! I also believed and counted on God turning an impossible situation into possible. So I was heartbroken at the response. In fact, I cried a little in the Kroger parking lot as I read her reply. In an attempt to comfort me, my sweet 5-year-old said, “Mommy, I’ll write something for your book. Just tell me what you want me to say.”

After responding to the news with some Ben and Jerry’s, “Triple Caramel Chunk” ice cream, I asked God to tell me what He wanted me to learn.

He showed me that I clenched in both hands the desire for this woman to write my forward. My grip was so tight, I left nail marks in my palms as I hoped, wished, and prayed for my want to become a reality. Not only did the dissolve under my tight grip make the blow that much harder, but my focus was not really on what God wanted, but on what I wanted God to want for me.

He desires to give me good things—but to give me His good things, not my good things.

In Matthew, Jesus says,

“…which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11 ESV)

Reading this reminded me of how my kids asked me for ice cream the other day as we drove past Baskin Robbins. I wanted to pull into the parking lot and order them, “Cookies and Cream” in a sugar cone. How their eyes would light up as I handed these sweet treats to them, making me just as happy. But I made something for them while they were at school I knew they’d enjoy more than Baskin Robbins—their favorite homemade strawberry cake (and I picked up some Blue Bell vanilla ice cream too). “No” was the answer for now, because I knew what waited at home.

Like wanting Baskin Robbins, God moving or not moving is not a question of His ability, but of His sovereignty.

The verses above in Matthew, don’t tell us we will receive exactly what we ask for from Jesus, as if He’s a vending machine. But Jesus does promise to give us good things when we ask Him. I just need to desire what He deems as good, remembering that this may not be what I originally intended or thought of, but it will be His best for me.

So I’m going to keep asking God for big, good things, but loosen my grip. Because when I hold loosely onto the things I want, I keep my focus on God, not what’s in my hands. I keep my palms open to allow Him to blow it all away if He needs to so He can put something better in its place. And I may just have to hear, “No,” until we get home and He gives me strawberry cake and ice cream.

After I told my husband the celebrity speaker wouldn’t be able to write my forward, he said, “Maybe God didn’t choose her to write the book’s forward, because He didn’t want her platform to be the reason for any of the book’s success. Maybe He wants all the glory.”

Funny, I just wrote a book about that.

#alwayslearning

 

Have you ever held a tight grip on something, only to see it dissolve in your hands? What did God teach YOU?