My relationship With God

 

Man, has God been working recently! It’s so amazing to see God move in my life and in others! Here’s a question that’s been on my mind recently - Am I recognizing God's presence and thanking him for the answered prayers in my life?

I sometimes question the strength of my relationship with God. I think this is because I am comparing my relationship with God to what He is doing in other people’s lives. I start to ask God why it seems he is working and blessing for some and for others they are in constant struggle. This causes me to go down the rabbit trail of doubt. It’s hard not to compare myself with other people, but I find the people I compare myself to the most to are the people who are very vocal about the good things God is doing. I even compare my faith to "Social Media Faith". What you see is not always what is real.  

When I start to compare myself to what God is doing for other people, I find it helpful to make a list of all my prayers. At the end of the week I look back to see the ones He has answered. Once I do this, it’s so clear that it’s not the absence of God working in my life, but me not noticing. It’s really easy to forget about the constant and small ways He moves.

Psalm 118:21 says, “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.” The Lord is what we need to put our hope in. If we realize and thank Him for everything that He has done in our lives, it encourages us to have hope. When we question if God is answering us it causes us to pull away and put our hope in things that aren’t going to last. When we write down our prayers it allows us to see everything that He is answering. This helps us to get rid of the whole comparison issue and the lie that God isn’t working. 

Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” I love this verse because it is making us put our full hope in Jesus that He will come through on our part. He doesn’t say when He is going to answer our prayer, it could be tomorrow or years from now. We just need to believe that He will answer what we have asked of Him. 

I hope that we can stop comparing our relationship with God to what He is doing in other people’s lives. We don't know what they are going through in this season, they probably don’t even fully know either. We need to have compassion for other people and build them up and encourage their relationship with God instead of getting jealous and comparing ourselves to them. I really hope that we can start to take notice of all of the prayers that God is answering in our lives. When I did this, I had a bit of a reality check. It’s not so much that God isn’t working in our lives, but it’s if we’re noticing. Sitting down once a week and just thanking God for each and every one of the prayers that He has answered will make our relationship stronger. We just have to realize all that He is doing out of love for us.