Jenny is sitting at the counter by herself of the main

watering hole in a small village. She just finished eating her lunch. Previously that morning she had been embarrassed by her husband in front of the entire village.

Jenny asks, “May I have a refill please.”

The Man Behind the Counter (Joe), “Coming right up ….

……. Jenny looks a bit sad and frustrated …..

As Joe hands her another drink he asks, “Excuse Mam are you alright?”

Jenny responds, “It’s a long story.”

Joe smiles and says, “I like stories.”

So, Joe comes around the counter and sits next to her.

Jenny goes on to tell Joe about her story, and says, “You see my husband, Noah, has told the entire village it will start to rain for a long time; are you familiar with my husband Noah?”

Joe responds, “Oh yes, the guy that’s building a huge ark, yes I heard of him, Noah.”

Jenny goes on with her story, “And get this… My husband says, God told him to do it.”

Jenny frustrated says,  “Now what in the world do you do with that?”

Joe surprisingly says, “Sounds like an opportunity.”

Jenny frowns back at Joe and asks him, “What do mean by that…. an opportunity?”

Joe goes on to say: “Let me ask you something…..

If someone prays for “patients” do you think God gives them patients?

Or does God give them the opportunity to be patient?

When someone prays for courage does God give them courage or does God give them the opportunity to be courageous.

And….

If someone prays for their family to be closer, Do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings or does God give them opportunities to love each other.”

Jenny sighs and lifts her head toward the sky as if to ask God something. She suddenly gets up and starts walking away from the village towards her husband’s tent.

She leaves her refill behind.

Do you expect God to give you what you ask or maybe God will provide you opportunities…. opportunities to fulfill what you asked God for?

Do you need a refill?

So, next time you pray and ask God for something, don’t always expect God to give you what you asked of Him. Instead, be ready, be ready for opportunities that God provides us all.

…knock and the door will be opened to you. Matt 7:7

When you knock do you think God will open door or could it be that God simply provided the door, provided the opportunity and expects you to open it.

God treasures everything and everyone He created.

Sparrows, to some, are not consider to be very valuable, but the common sparrow has tremendous value in God’s perspective. As Jesus says, if even sparrows are worthy enough for God to remember and count them and keep watch over them, how much more are human beings worth from the moment of conception in the womb till the day we die and go back home to our creator?

Since we are all we are made in God’s own image, are we not worth more to God then a sparrow?

God knows us completely – even down to the smallest details and thus God loves us completely.

Since God cares so much for sparrows, which are so tiny and commonplace, we can trust God to care for us too. 

Job 12:7-10 declares: “But ask the animals,

and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.