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I was on a walk the other day when I had an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness overcome me.

It was thankfulness for how I am now able to see life. I see it with a different set of lenses. I think bigger picture. Eternally.

Sweet moments hold more sweetness.

The small worries don’t carry as much weight.

And my heart of gratitude for my blessings has increased tenfold.

Then I stopped in my tracks and looked up to the sky and had a very honest moment.

God, I had to lose way too much to gain this perspective.

My heart of thankfulness feels torn between the blessings of what I’ve gained but the sorrow for what was lost in order to gain it.

I had a thought the other day that most of my life I prayed the easy kind of prayers.
For all the good things I wanted.
Or for security.
I prayed for safety.
And for the health of my family.

None of those things in and of themselves are bad things.

But the thought occurred to me, if God had given me everything I prayed for, it would have been the worst answer He could have given to my heartfelt prayers.

The night before His crucifixion Jesus was in a garden talking to God. He knew what He was about to endure. And He was in complete and utter anguish because of it. He told His disciples His soul was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26)

Hour upon hour He spoke to God and asked for the cup to pass from Him. He asked if there could be another way. Any other way. He has God’s heart more than anyone does. He is God’s Son. And here you see a Son pleading with a Daddy to spare Him from death in the worst way imaginable.

And don’t for a moment think His Father wasn’t heartbroken for what his Son was about to endure. After hours of wrestling with what was to come, something in Jesus’ prayers changed.

A small silence was broken and He uttered the words that changed the entire narrative:

Not as I will, but as You will.
Matthew 26:39 (ESV)

He wasn’t shy in telling God He didn’t want to endure what He was set to endure. He was, after all, God in the form of a human. Our human nature tends to shy away from pain, not run towards it.

But in the end, He surrendered His will to God’s greater purpose.

Can you imagine how the story would’ve changed if God swooped in to save the day? Certainly, He could have. But Jesus’ willingness to face what was set before Him changed the entire course of history. His sacrifice changed death forever.

That’s not how the story started but my – what an ending.

No one would ever willingly pray for calamity to come upon them just for a perspective change. The truth is God did not answer my prayer in the way I hoped, cried out, and believed. But the way He did answer it has built within me more strength, grit, humility, honesty, care, and compassion than I could’ve ever hoped for. It changed the course of our family’s life, and the way we will live our lives, forever.

Most importantly, it has changed the way I pray.

Of course, there’s still things I pray and ask God for.
Protection.
Health of my family.
The things I desire.
But it goes through a filter now. The filter is “His will”.

Because through this experience there’s nothing I trust more now than His heart.

I trust His will for me and for my family. His purpose for our lives.
I trust in it more than my own wants and more than my own plans.
It doesn’t mean I always understand it, but I trust it.

In the end, His purpose will be fulfilled greater than we imagined.

The One who sees the beginning from the end is the same One who holds us in the palm of His hand.

While at times it has seemed like I was in a garden begging Him for an ending that never came. It will also mean a different ending I never saw coming.

All for His glory. All for our good.

All for a story and a purpose.
His kingdom come, His will be done.

Dear Jesus I thank You, that in the midst of such pain and loss, I can trust in Your purpose and plan for my life. While I may not always understand, please help me trust Your heart for me. Amen