Prepared Hearts

I love being blessed. It doesn't matter if the blessings come from family, friends or from total strangers, they're all great. But the blessings I receive from God are - shall I say it - divine! I like to think I receive God's blessings all the time. There are the blessings of food, shelter, and clothing I'm thankful to get each and every day and countless other I can think of. But I wonder how many blessings come my way that I don't even notice or worse yet – that I turn away because I don't recognize what they are. Why does that happen? I think the problem is that I'm not always prepared to receive them. My heart or attitude might be in a bad place when a blessing comes down from heaven and I won’t notice it. I may be so consumed in my own thoughts, pain, anger, doubt, or busyness that I don't see the hand of God working in my life.

One of the main things I pray when praying for others is for God to bless them in whatever way He desires to. It could be a blessing that is financial, emotional, physical, or spiritual. Whatever their need is I know He sees it and wants to provide. Recently I was praying for someone in particular whose relationship with God is, I'll just say, sketchy. I began to wonder if that person would 1) even notice the blessings and/or 2) recognize the source from which they came. I thought about their heart and realized that if the heart wasn't right the effectiveness of the blessings could be diminished. What happens when prayers fall on unprepared hearts?

I thought about my own heart? How prepared is it to receive the blessings God wants to give me? What if God blesses me with something I don't think I want? If I pray for blue and He gives me red what will be my reaction? Red’s not even in the same color family. Will I pout? Will I say "no thanks"? Do I subconsciously think a blessing is only a blessing if it's exactly what I think it should be? If God wants to give me red then I want my heart to want red too.

If our hearts are unprepared I feel that, although we still receive blessings, we won’t receive the maximum benefit God may be hoping to achieve in giving them. I liken it to opening a present and saying "Thanks. This will come in handy." versus opening a present and saying "AWESOME! UNBELIEVABLE TIMING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED (OR WANTED)! YOU KNOW ME BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF! YOU ALWAYS BLESS ME IN WAYS I CAN'T IMAGINE! YOU CONTINUE TO SHOW ME HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME AND HOW MUCH YOU CARE! I DON'T DESERVE THIS BUT I THANK YOU FOR REACHING INTO MY LIVE AND SHOWING ME HOW SPECIAL I AM TO YOU! YOU ARE AMAZING!" Which reaction would you like to get? I’m sure God would prefer the second. But don’t get me wrong – I don’t think it’s all about the gratitude. I think it’s about the total package – which includes the full understanding of what was given and how we benefit.

I know first hand that God prepares hearts. Before my husband and I left for China to adopt our baby girl I prayed often that God would prepare her for us – that she wouldn’t be frightened by the new strangers removing her from the only world she knew. I believed even at just a few months of age God could still prepare her for us. And He did! Not a tear was shed when they placed her in our arms. She looked at us as if to say “There you are. I’ve been waiting for you.” This was a blessing I will forever be grateful for!

The revelation of needing a prepared heart was a blessing to me because it showed me I need to change the way I pray. I know it’s good and Godly to pray for people to be blessed (including me). But now I know I need to pray for God to prepare our hearts so that we receive the blessings He so graciously gives. I continue to believe God wants to bless us in many ways and, furthermore, that it gives Him great joy to do so. Why? Because He loves us.