Digging Deeper

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” -Matthew 21:22

As some of you may know I own my business. This can be very stressful at times. Bills to pay, employees to pay, building upkeep, marketing, more bills to pay and so much responsibility on your shoulders. It can be very scary especially if money is tight. A little over three years ago now I received a bit of a wake up call. I had made a series of difficult and what appeared to be wrong business decisions. It was a very stressful time for me and I let it manifest itself in a pattern of very self-destructive behavior. This not only affected my business decisions but it affected my relationship with my wife and daughter. I was under extreme pressure and often dreaded going to work because then I had to face this surmounting problem.

One morning as I was shaving and preparing for work I felt a presence with me. It told me I needed to pray. My first thought was “oh, great now I’ve finally lost it!!” But, the voice persisted and I felt a wave of emotion come over me. I woke up my wife and I asked her to pray for me (I had no idea how to pray at this point). I’m not sure but at first I think she too thought I had lost it. This did not come close to resembling any behavior I had ever exhibited in the past. Then she realized what was happening. We laid there and prayed together. I can’t tell you for sure what all was said in that time but I felt a weight lift from me. I realized, then and there that this Jesus stuff she was always trying to drag me into was real. That worry brought me to my knees and opened my heart and mind and Jesus became part of my life.

As the whirlwind of the next few weeks started to settle I was able to make decisions with clarity. I learned to pray about my business and ask God what He wanted me to do and how He wanted me to do it. Over the last few years I have listened to what God has told me in these prayers and He has blessed me for that obedience. I have been able to accomplish things that should not have been possible. I have pulled my business out of potential financial problems and have been able to survive in the current economic downturn when other small businesses have not. I’m not sure where the Lord is leading me or the business in the future but I know I don’t have to worry about it because His will be done. So as you can see a little worry can be a good thing.

The thing that still blows my mind is that the prayer that was answered that day was my wife’s long running prayer for my salvation and not so much the prayer for the situation I was in at the time.

Heavenly Father thank You for taking our little worries and using them to teach us and lead us in our spiritual journey… Amen