I love fairytales, especially Cinderella. They always have that magical ending… And they lived happily ever after. To say, it’s not like any other fairy tale I know of. After all how many princes, on falling in love would take a glass slipper and roam through the whole town looking for the one person that they fell in love with. It was not easy, considering, that he had to go from door to door, be patient enough to give every one a fair chance irrespective of whether they were close in resemblance or not. And to top it all to be patient enough to keep believing that if not this house then the next. He never gave up, and he never bothered about people’s reactions. Even if it’s a fairytale I admire his courage, to keep pushing through, to keep believing.
Have you been praying about a situation in your life and wondering why the answer hasn't come yet?
Sometimes we pray long and hard and we wonder if or when God will send the answer. The question is not if we'll wait, but rather how long?
When our prayers appear to go unanswered, and God seems distant, we wonder if there’s any use in praying, at all. Let's look at the experience of the woman in the passage from the Bible. Matthew 15: 21-28
The woman pleaded with Jesus on behalf of her sick daughter. At first, Jesus gave her no response at all. Next, Jesus’s disciples pleaded with Him to give her what she wants. And then, after she had literally fallen on her knees and begged for help, Jesus quoted a popular saying which likened her people to dogs.
Jesus was intentionally testing her faith, and she passed the test. Others might have given up, and walked away in bitterness and disappointment. But not this woman! She continued to persist, her prayer was answered, and her daughter was healed.
Her witness demonstrates the importance of persistence in prayer. Persistence teaches us patience. Our persistence in prayer, shows to God that some need is close to our hearts, and not just a casual request. Sometimes God says “Yes!” Sometimes God says “No.” And sometimes God says “Not yet.” God’s delays are not God’s denials. As St. Teresa of Avila
All of us need to wait expectantly. Our heart should be filled with hope, expecting the problem to be solved at any moment. We need to wake up every morning with an expectation, that this could be our day. It’s just like when a woman is pregnant. She carries inside her the promise of life, a baby, and even though she can’t see it, she knows it's there. The moment she learns of her pregnancy, she begins to plan for her baby's arrival. She knows the promise will be fulfilled—it's just a matter of time.
When our hearts are eager to hear from God, He loves to rush in suddenly with His solution. In many cases this waiting period actually serves as a time of preparation for the answer. If God answered right away, many of us would be un-prepared to handle His solution.
We need to keep waiting on God and trusting Him with a simple faith. Then, in a way we never could've figured out—God moves suddenly! Then All of a Sudden... In the Bible Paul and Silas knew about waiting, and they waited well. Acts 16 tells the story of how they were attacked by a crowd, beaten and thrown in prison. Acts 24 says the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and fastened their feet in with the locks. He was making sure they couldn't escape. But about midnight, God showed up. Now it would have been nice if He'd come a little earlier, but Paul and Silas didn’t seem to mind—they just decided to start singing and began to worship the Lord. They began to wait on God. God answered them suddenly!
Acts 16-25 say, "But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened."
When people patiently and expectantly wait on God in the midst of horrible circumstances, suddenly God breaks through. So don't give up! Don’t stop believing! Stay full of hope and expectation. God’s timing was and will always be perfect.
It was just yesterday, that I spoke with my friend, and I was letting her know, how important it is to have a child like belief.
Do you remember, when you were a child, and you asked something, maybe a toy, from either of your parent? And you simply believed that it would be there. Did you ever think, or even want to know from where your parent got it from? All that mattered was that you asked and persisted on asking till you got what you wanted. You simply believed and God provided your parents with the means to getting it for you. That is the way, we need to be, simple, trusting and always believing. Let the child in you, show you the way.
Another example I have to mention here is of a little child, when told to jump by his father from a height, will immediately jump into his father’s arms, because he trusts, his father will hold him. We need to have that kind of belief that God knows best.
CONCLUSION: I would rather suggest that let the music play in your head..and let the title for that be . . . DONT STOP BELIEVING . . . And in that instant you are reminded that the prince, found Cinderella, and the glass slipper fitted on, perfectly. And Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after. . . . .
Life is filled with magical moments, and it’s our belief that makes them special. When you believe in the wonders of God, and you look at it, as if you were a child then everything, you look at will seem magical. It’s abracadabra . . . . but on God’s time.
REMEMBER: When you have walked with God through the furnace, there comes a moment when you are at the mountaintop, and you can feel victory all around. And like God told Joshua, to give a shout of praise to God. And on their shout of praise the walls of Jericho
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