a side note from the grateful april but i wanted to share

it is 612am and i am looking at a fire in the sky - not literally, of course, but the sunrise is gorgeous this morning!! (that might just be my grateful tonight - we'll see!!)

as i read this morning i was challenged and struck by how limited my faith and my prayers can be. i was speaking with my best friend in chattanooga yesterday and she mentioned how she and her husband were praying "boldly" for a particular request and i was just struck by that. is it that their faith is so much stronger than my own, is it that their relationship with God is so much closer that they would, in my mind, have the guts to pray so boldly about this particular thing? then i read the devotion this morning and realized i can do the same, He WANTS me to do the same, i just have to trust!!! trust Him with ALL of this - the good, the bad and the ugly - because He's there in the midst of it all, even when i may feel He has abandoned ship.

(from Streams in the Desert - i added the CAPS and underlining, though)
He did not waver....regarding the promise...., being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. (Romans 4:20-21)

Scripture tells us that Abraham, "without weakening in his faith,...faced the fact that his body was as good as dead: (v.19). He was not discouraged, because he was not looking at himself but at almighty God. "He did not waver...regarding the promise" but stood straight, not bending beneath the staggering load of God's blessing. Instead of growing weak, his faith grew stronger, exhibiting more power, even as more difficulties became apparent. Abraham glorified God for His complete sufficiency and was "fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

The literal translation of this passage from the Greek expresses the thought in this way: God is not merely able but ABUNDANTLY able, BOUNTIFULLY and GENEROUSLY able, with an infinite surplus of resources, and ETERNALLY able "to do what he had promised."

He is the God of limitless resources - the only limit comes from us. Our requests, our thoughts, and our prayers are too small, and our expectations are too low. God is trying to raise our vision to a higher level, call us to have greater expectations, and thereby bring us to a greater appropriation. Shall we continue living in a way that mocks His will and denies His Word?

There is no limit to what we may ask and expect of our glorious El Shaddai - our Almighty God. And there is no way for us to measure His blessing, for He is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." (Eph 3:20).  A. B. Simpson

So even though it might be discouraging and confusing and frustrating right now - even though i may want to "waver" - i can't. i just can't. HE loves me so much more than i can even fathom and HE has our best interest in mind. Lord, help me to pray "boldly", help me not to waver but to keep my eyes on YOU, Almighty God. Help me to trust that you CAN do IMMEASURABLY more than we could ask or imagine, and that you WANT to do this for us. Help me to trust!!!!!