Sometimes our situations don’t change, and instead of focusing on asking God to change things outside of us, His plans are to change things inside of us.
In March, my family’s business, our wedding venue, started to go through some tough resistance from a few of our neighbors and the county we live in. Our county board commissioners decided to change many venue regulations without any notice, and the backlash from our neighbors just fueled the fire.
I prayed daily since March for God to make a way for our business to remain open. I shared with my squad and asked them to join me in prayer.
All my family and friends shared on Facebook inviting our community to pray with us.
We made a Facebook event inviting people to attend the hearing.
We wrote emails and sent them to our county commissioners to show them how beneficial our venue was for the county.
We created an online petition for people to sign and received over 4,500 signatures.
The Lord encouraged me to fast for the three days leading up to the hearing, and my team at the same also decided to join me in fasting.
My team and I had an all night prayer session the day of the hearing in Georgia.
The final hearing was on August 15th.
And you know what? The venue was shut down. The circumstances didn’t change. Nothing changed…that I could see. But throughout praying for my family’s business over the past few months, God changed my heart. In the beginning, I felt so much anger and frustration towards my neighbors. I was so mad that these people were bringing an end to my family’s livelihood. But then God changed my perspective.
“Our generation desperately needs to rediscover the difference between praying for and praying through. There are certainly circumstances where praying for something will get the job done. But there are also situations where you need to grab hold of the horns of the altar and refuse to let go until God answers.”
You intercede until God intervenes.
God did not intervene and change the outcome of the hearing to what I wanted it to be. The venue was shut down, and yes, my heart was crushed. But throughout praying for the venue over the past few months, God changed me. I no longer have anger towards my neighbors. Instead, I pray for them to come to know the Lord and experience the joy and peace He has for them. I’m not mad at our county commissioners who voted against keeping our family business open – I pray for their eyes to be opened so they can make good decisions for the county to be successful. I pray for them to have discernment and wisdom in leading our county.
I think God had me on this very specific, intentional prayer journey to teach me what it means to pray through the trials we are faced with in life.
“Therefore, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
This world would expect me to be angry, and even give me the justification to speak out in that anger, but that is not the nature of Christ. It is tough, and sometimes confusing, and many times exhausting, but renewal is so worth it. And though I am far from doing this well, I know every time I say “yes” to Christ, and no to my fleshly desires, I am in that moment being transformed to be more like Christ.
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