ARE YOU WILLING TO SETTLE FOR LESSER GIFTS

I never know what my topic is going to be about each Sunday. Every week, I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal a subject to me, and I watch and wait for His direction. I’ve heard people talk about how the Holy Spirit can use anything to speak to you, and some have even mentioned getting a message from TV commercials. My message came from an equally strange venue, and I will share that with all of you.

Many of you might already know that I am on a girl’s trip in Nashville with some of my friends. I am traveling with a small group, but there are many people here in attendance for this event. The ladies in charge of putting on the event gave everyone a ticket as they came in, and later they said they would be giving away prizes. We all tucked our tickets in our handbags and watched the presentations.

Once all of the presentations were finished, they told us to get out our tickets, and they started calling out numbers. One by one, people were claiming different gifts, and I kept sitting there waiting patiently for my number to be called. Some of the gifts were awesome, and I silently hoped my number would be called. But, each time, someone else claimed that gift. Other times, I silently hoped that my number wouldn’t be called since I already had the gift that they were giving away.

This went on for a long time, and I thought they had run out of gifts, and I was a little sad that I hadn’t won. Then, the lady walked backstage and brought out a large bag with more gifts. Each gift that she pulled out of the bag was better than the last, and then she pulled out this gorgeous charcoal gray monogrammed sweatshirt. The entire room said, oooooh!!! Everyone wanted their number to be called out, including me. Once the number was called, someone else took home the gift.

Disappointment once again set in, and I am sure that many other women in the room felt the same way. Then, the lady reached into her goodie bag and brought out another monogrammed sweatshirt, but this one was in bright pink. She reached into the box and drew out the winning ticket. IT WAS MINE!!!!

I was so excited to win the bright pink sweatshirt since pink is one of my favorite colors, and it looks great on blondes. I quickly slipped the sweatshirt over my tee shirt and wore it the rest of the night. After the event was over, several women came over to me to look at the shirt and said, “you got the best gift of all.”

When I got back to the hotel room, I took off the sweatshirt to get dressed for bed. That is when I understood what the Holy Spirit was teaching me. It was not about winning a gift; it was about waiting for the right gift. I was willing to settle for other lesser gifts and was somewhat bummed when those lesser gifts didn’t come my way.

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

How many of us are willing to settle for less? Patience is hard, and most of us will settle for less rather than waiting and taking the chance that there is something else better. We don’t know the Lord’s plans for us, so we try to formulate those plans ourselves. The unknown is scary, and many of us would accept a lesser “known” gift rather than wait on a potential better “unknown” gift.

Whenever I wear my bright pink sweatshirt, I will remind myself that the Lord’s plans are so much better than mine. I might not know what is in my future, but I am glad that He is the one who does.

To God Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!