Psalm 5:1-3 “Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch." Today's episode reminds us that God does hear our prayers. It reminds us that God is a good God and He has a good plan. We struggle with this at times when it seems like our answers are going unanswered. God put a song on my heart today, "Flowers" by Samantha Ebert, to give us some insight into why we might have to remain in hard times longer than we would like. Music:"Adding the Sun"fine us. It is not fun, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Has A Watering Can (Flowers)
Psalm 5:1-3 “Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
This was another verse from my prayer group. I picked it today because I know so many who are struggling with what feels like unanswered prayers. Although they trust God will answer those prayers, they find it harder and harder to trust. They want to believe that God has a good plan for them. They want to believe God is going to put an end to this suffering on this side of heaven. Yet they haven’t seen it yet. They still have to suffer with the pain every day, or the heartache every day.
Last night, I went to an Encounter Ministries Alumni event at the Boston Campus, and my friend Hugh and I were praying over another friend of ours. She has been struggling with something for over 30 years, and it has been daily for over 10 years. I was telling them that I don’t understand this. I don’t understand why someone would have to go through something like that for so long. She has prayed for God to take it away. She has had lots of people pray over her for God to take it away, and although he has made the problem less severe, He has not taken it away from her.
She is coming to Him each day with expectant faith also. I feel like she has checked all the boxes of what God has told us to do, and if we do, He will answer our prayer, yet they seem to go unanswered. Why is that? Do you feel like this, too? Like you have done all you can do, and yet your prayers still haven’t been answered? You aren’t alone. I wish I could say that I had the answer for you. I talked to the Lord about it this morning, and He put this song on my heart. I believe He is trying to help me understand His ways more with this song. I pray that this song and the words He gives me today to share with you will give you the strength you need to keep asking God for whatever answer you have been waiting for. He hears you, keep asking!!
"Flowers" by Samantha Ebert was written during a period of intense physical and emotional pain caused by Lyme disease. Ebert, bedridden and feeling like her hope was fading, found inspiration in the "get well soon" flowers on her nightstand, realizing that beautiful things can grow in the darkest places. The song became a reflection on faith, gratitude, and the idea that God can turn even the hardest parts of life into something beautiful. Here are the words to the song:
Well, blue skies and hillsides feel so far away
And I wrote in my notebook that I've seen better days
Than the ones as of late
I can't bear the weight
The rain won't stop pouring out my windowpane
And I haven't left my bedroom in 76 days
I wish something would change
'Cause I'm losing faith
I think many of us have been in a situation where it went on for a lot longer than we wanted it to. I think we all have had a time when we felt like things would never change, never get better, never go away. We have felt like we would never be healed, we would never get out of that relationship, we would never find a job. Whatever you never were, we have all had one. It is easy to lose faith when it feels like God is ignoring your prayers. When we are tired and worn out, it is harder and harder to resist listening to the lies of the enemy. He is a liar, and yet he uses half-truths, so that they seem to make sense to us when we are tired and feel like we can’t fight the darkness anymore. When we feel like the weight of our problem is too great for us to bear any longer.
Next, the song says:
So I brought it up in a desperate prayer
Lord, why are you keeping me here?
Then He said to me, "Child, I'm planting seeds
I'm a good God and I have a good plan
So trust that I'm holding a watering can
And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley”
I am sure we have all brought our situation up to the Lord in a desperate prayer. Probably many desperate prayers, however, this time she heard an answer from the Lord. I want to pause and reinforce this point. The Lord is talking to you. I know I say this all the time, and that is because I don’t think many of you believe me. You may believe He talks to people, but you don’t believe He is talking to you. I promise you, He is, you just have to listen. So, if you are in a desperate place, ask the Lord why. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do. Maybe he will just say Wait. But what if He tells you something you can do while you wait? God is talking to you, I promise you that!
In the song, the person struggling cries out to the Lord. She asks why He is keeping her there, and He tells her. He answers her question. He will do the same for you. God said, "Child, I'm planting seeds. I’m a good God and I have a good plan. So trust that I'm holding a watering can. And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley.” Isn’t that amazing? This is not only true for her, but it is true for you too. Our God is a good God, and He has a good plan. If you don’t believe me, look at Jeremiah 29:11, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”
God has good plans for you. You will get out of this situation. He will not leave you in suffering forever. He will save you. He is answering your prayers. What you are going through now is preparing you for where He is taking you. I know when you are in the thick of it, this might not be comforting to you. I know when I was in the middle of my situation, I didn’t want to hear this. I just wanted to hear when it would all be over and I could move on to the better times, the joy-filled and happy times.
If you are in that place, I want you to know you are not alone and that it is ok to feel that way. It is ok to be angry that it has been going on for this long. Take those feelings to God; He is the only one who can help you through them. God can handle your anger. He can handle your frustration! My friend said that the Lord told her that when she is hurting, He is also hurting. The same is true for you. God doesn’t want to see you hurting. And also, like any good dad, He knows sometimes we have to go through hard things to become the person we are meant to be. We shouldn’t shield our kids from every bad thing that will ever happen to them, because that is how they learn. We also have to learn from our mistakes and experience some of that pain.
But what is amazing is that there are flowers in the valley. It is so hard when we are going through hard times. However, every time we go through them, we can look back and see positive things about them. It doesn’t mean we are always glad they happened. If we lost a loved one, even though we might be able to see a few good things, like the fact that they get to be with Jesus now, or they are no longer suffering, it doesn’t mean we are happy they passed away. Our struggles change us and we can be grateful for the lessons we learned without being grateful for the situation.
Next the song says:
So whatever the reason, I'm barely getting by
I'll trust it's a season knowing that you're by my side
Every step of the way
And I'll be okay
'Cause I brought it up in a desperate prayer
Lord, why are you keeping me here?
Then He said to me, "Child, I'm planting seeds
I'm a good God and I have a good plan"
So trust that I'm holding a watering can
And someday you'll see that flowers grow in the valley
This is a hard step for most of us, and it is one that brings us the most relief. It is where we can finally get some peace. In this verse, she is surrendering. She is accepting that even though she doesn’t know the why, she knows the who. She knows that God is in control and that He will use all of this for her good. (Romans 8:28) Most of the time, when we are in a hard season, we won’t know the why. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and we don’t understand them. However, if we can keep reminding ourselves that this is just a season, and seasons don’t last forever. If we can remind ourselves that God is with us every step of the way and that we will be okay, then it can make the journey a bit better.
Next the song says:
When I'm on the mountain and looking down below
I'll see a valley of flowers that needed time to grow
And I'll thank you for the rain
The hurt and days of pain
And I'll bring it up in a grateful prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for keeping me there
You know just what I need, and you've planted seeds
'Cause you're a good God with a real good plan
And you hold my world in a watering can
So I can have peace 'cause flowers grow in the valley
Man, when we get to the other side, it is so good! We tend to see the flowers, maybe not right away. We see that all that lying around in bed gave us the chance to pray more, intercede more, and grow closer to God. Or we see that all that struggle gave us levels of patience, resilience, and perseverance that we would never have otherwise. We see that fighting to break that addiction gave us the strength we needed for the next chapter of life. We see that because we went through that hard time, we can now be a witness to others that they can make it through that hard time, too.
I love this song because it shows us that God is good and He really does have a good plan. Yes, it is hard waiting for that plan. I have a friend who really wanted to meet the man of her dreams and get married and have a family together. She did finally meet the man of her dreams a lot later than she wanted to. It was hard for her to wait that long. It was a lot of years of heartbreak, losing hope, and feeling like it may never happen. However, now that she is on the other side of it, she can see that if they had met earlier, it might not have worked out. They both needed to grow and become the people they are now.
If you are in a really hard season right now, I am so sorry. Trust me when I say I know how hard it is to wait for prayers to be answered. I know how hard it is to struggle for a very long time. I struggled for so very long with parenting and in my marriage. I cried out to the Lord over and over again. And although it was a very long road, I knew I wasn’t in it alone. I know God was there helping me along the way. I am now able to thank God for those hard times because they made me who I am today. They made it so I can help other struggling parents. I can empathize with kids who are struggling. I can help others grow closer to God. I can help others develop a deep trust in the Lord because I have a deep trust in the Lord, and a lot of that grew out of necessity because of the hard times I was in.
I’m sorry this episode is longer than usual, but I know many of you are struggling, and I felt like God wanted you to hear this today and wanted you to know that it won’t last forever. He is a good God and has a good plan for your life. Trust that in this difficult season, and just keep looking forward to the flowers you will see in the valley when you reach the top of the mountain. Just keep looking forward to the day when you will want to thank God for all you have been through. I love you and I am rooting for you and I am always here for you to reach out to if you need help keeping up your hope. Sometimes when we are in the middle of it, we need other people to hope for us because it is too hard and painful for us to keep hoping. If you are at that point, please reach out and I will keep the hope alive for you! Email catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or go to the website walkboldlywithjesus.com and click on the contact me page. I would love to hear from you and pray with you!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, we know you are a good Father and you have good plans for us. However, sometimes it is hard to believe this with all the bad we see in our lives. Please help us. Help us to remember that you will bring good out of this. Help us to remember this is a season and won’t last forever. Help us to remember that you are with us in the hard season, that you never abandon us. You are there giving us all we need to make it though that day. Thank you Lord, you are amazing! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to invite you all to click on the link below and check out my mentoring program. It is similar to the podcast, but you get to hang out with me on Tuesday nights and go a bit more in-depth on certain topics. It is also a great way to set aside some time to grow closer to the Lord each week. Tonight will be week four of our For Such A Time As This series. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in October 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, I am yours and you are mine, and I direct the way each day. The more you come to me, the more you will experience my joy and mercy, so you, in turn, can share it with others.”