Already Answered.

I was in my studio the other day, going about my bride-beautifying business, when all of the sudden I was stopped in my tracks by an answered prayer.
And it was right there under my nose.

Has that ever happened to you?

You pray and pray and pray for something to show up, for something to be provided, when, seemingly out of nowhere you see the answer to your prayer?

AND IT HAS BEEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU THE WHOLE TIME?
And then you are overcome with both gratefulness and grief that he has chosen to bless you in spite of me being completely unaware.

I mean, seriously. This is reminiscent of those times that I go searching searching searching through my closet for some scarf or boot, only to realize 7 minutes into the frustrated hunt that it is in my hand.

Don’t tell me you don’t know what I am talking about.

Because I know all of you walk into the kitchen on some mission only to get there and go, “Now, what was it that I came in here for?”
And then we stand there with this blank stare and just end up eating hummus because we don’t have the foggiest clue what in the world took us to the kitchen.

Well this was kind of like that.

Kind of.
I mean, am I so utterly preoccupied with praying for something new to come into my life that I don’t even recognize the answered prayers that are already there? That have always been there? That he has already provided?

Whoa.

I think I really must be a basket case.

Praise his name for new mercies every morning because, well, if they weren’t there I probably wouldn’t be out of bed yet. Seriously.

Lately I have been meditating on a scripture that is so simple, yet, no surprise here, I can’t wrap my brain around it. No way.

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:6-8)

But how true, Wolfies. He knows what we need way before we ask him.

And sometimes…sometimes…he has provided it before we ask him, too.
My prayer is that we would be a people who have eyes to see. To see his goodness. To see his mercy. To see his hand in everything; in the fullness and in the lack. And in what is already there.