I had particularly high expectations for one sister that God brought into my life last year. After some persistent asking, she signed up for the retreat last minute which gave me hope. And yet as we returned back to campus yesterday, I couldn't help but get frustrated and impatient as nothing seemed to have changed. I couldn't understand why God wouldn't rescue and heal her NOW, but then came across this parable in Matthew 20:
I have a hard time balancing proactively following up with people vs. pushing them away with my attempts. Learning to step back from people and pray to our almighty father instead.
One Desire Fast 2013: Less food, more prayer & reflection instead. Here we go!
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.What if she doesn't receive Christ into her life until she's 50? Well, the reward will be the same, and she'd be able to minister to others who don't discover Christ until later in life as well.
I have a hard time balancing proactively following up with people vs. pushing them away with my attempts. Learning to step back from people and pray to our almighty father instead.
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