If you grew up in a religious household, then you have probably prayed to God for something big before. Maybe it was for God to heal you; get you out of debt; gift you a brand new car; send you a significant other; get you a job with nice, fat check attached; help your business to grow (the way everybody else’s seems to be growing). Or maybe, if you’re like me, you’ve prayed one or more of these things before and more!

So what do you do when God (seemingly at least) goes radio silent on you? 😳 Or worse, gives you something basic that you definitely did not ask for?

If you ask any mature Christian out there, they would probably tell you to “trust God” and “His timing.” And to be fair, they’re not necessarily wrong. 😳 But what about for those of us who want more answers?

Maybe you are currently experiencing feelings of sadness, abandonment, hurt, or even downright anger towards God because you can’t understand why He wouldn’t give you what you asked for.

Besides, the Bible says, “Ask and you shall receive,” right? If this is you, then read on…

Breaking old habits

I recently decided it was time to head back to the gym. And where better to start than on the treadmill? While it was hard to walk for an extended period of time I figured that if I gradually built myself up to it, it would get easier over time.

After getting used to the burn calories setting I decided to try the build endurance setting. Now while I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I did notice a chart in the corner with target heart rates to build endurance in people my height/weight.

After inputting my stats, I was ready to go! Workout gear on, bottle of water to my left, and my AirPods charged and playlist on. And then I pressed the start button on the treadmill. Imagine my surprise when the treadmill slowly crawled to life. And by slowly, I mean, slooooooowly.

For a moment I was confused? When I had previously tried other settings, the treadmill started me at a very reasonable pace. But right now, I was starting to feel like I was a baby—not just a baby—a baby crawling through molasses.

I looked down at the screen and noticed that they had started me at a speed of approximately 0.5 mph. My thoughts were immediate:

• Not even one mile per hour? Are they crazy? What am I going to do with that?!
• How in the heck is a speed of 0.5 going to build my endurance? This isn’t challenging me! My heart rate hasn’t even changed! Shoot, it might have slowed down!
• If this goes any slower I may just fall asleep on this thing!

And can I be really honest for a moment? At one point I even wondered what others in the gym would think as they saw me slooooowly walking along the treadmill. Would they think I was someone just coming to the gym for kicks but not really motivated to work hard to make changes? Would they think I was (insert a shudder here) a slacker??? 😶

My inner thoughts were loud. Why did this treadmill start me on such a slow setting? I can handle a faster one! I’ve walked on this before.

When I finally heard the treadmill beep (an indicator that the speed was going to change) I looked down at the screen, eyes widening in anticipation.

…

The speed had increased…to 0.6 mph.

As I grew more and more frustrated, it suddenly dawned on me. What if this is just a part of the process?

This led me to an even different thought. In what ways might God be trying to prepare me for the ‘big thing’ I’m asking for but I’m completely missing it?

Real Life Example

Many years ago, I had some credit card debt (if you’re a formerly broke college student you know what I’m talking about #thestruggle). After seeing the total amount of all of my debt, I prayed, “God, can you please make a miracle happen and get me out of this debt? I promise, if you do that for me, I will never, ever get into debt like this again.”

Now when I look back at my prayer, I can’t help but laugh at myself. But at the time I was earnest in my belief that God could, and would, get me out of the mess I had put myself in.

That same day, I got in my car and turned on the radio. As I drove off, a sermon came on by Dr. Tony Evans. He said, “Some of you are praying to God to get you out of debt, but He’s not going to do that.”

He explained that a lot of times we ask God to do a “miracle” (i.e., something big) but we don’t realize that God knows we won’t be able to follow through on our end of the bargain unless we undergo a process that will help build discipline within us.

Still not convinced? Let me run a hypothetical scenario by you:

Money, money, money, money…money 🎶

Do you occasionally (or maybe even consistently) play the lottery? There’s nothing like seeing the giant billboard, “POWERBALL: $2,000,000,000” to get you running to your local 7-11! Statistically speaking, you may know that you’re not actually likely to win. But I’d guess that a $2.04 billion dollar Powerball is enough to get you to buy a lottery ticket (or 10)!

But have you heard that most of the people who win the lottery end up filing for bankruptcy within 3-5 years? Or that nearly one-third (that’s 1 out of 3) of lottery winners will eventually declare bankruptcy?

Now you may be thinking one question.

HOW???? 😱

How in the world can a person win hundreds of millions or billions of dollars and still go broke in less than a decade? While I’m sure multiple factors come into play, I’d guess that the primary reason is pretty straightforward.

They never learned the skills, discipline, financial know-how, or strategies that are used to build and maintain wealth. And guess what? If you or I were in that position, chances are we’d do the same thing!

It’s true though…

Getting back to my treadmill routine, I was so stuck on wanting the end result (the “big” thing being building strong endurance and getting my heart rate up) that I missed out on the fact that in order to appreciate and be able to handle the big thing I would need preparation and strength. In other words, I need to build my endurance day by day in order to get what I want tomorrow.

Imagine if the target heart rate to build my endurance is 160 beats per minute (bpm) and my heart currently beats at 70bpm. What effect could it have on my heart (and body) to get ratcheted up to 160bpm right off the bat??! I’d probably pass out—not build endurance!

If you forget everything you’ve read in this post, don’t forget this.

It’s so important to learn to appreciate the small, seemingly boring steps that may be helping to lead you to or prepare you for the next big thing in your life. Tweet this!

What is the big thing you are currently hoping or praying for? Can you see some ways in which your current life circumstances is preparing you to receive, handle, and appreciate that thing?