I was running through my mental to-do list while my husband dug out another pile of dirt in our overflowing garden beds. As I prepared to wheel yet another pile of dirt to our backyard, I found my heart growing increasingly resentful. I had hoped to spend the weekend doing activities that would replenish and restore me after a busy work week. My husband, however, was focused on putting in the work to make sure our new house was the best that it could be, and I realized that we needed to put in the work for our new home. My old routines would have to shift to care for the house in the way that we needed to.
What We Prayer For
Two years prior, we started the search for our first house with high hopes and lots of expectation. We had no idea how long the long journey ahead of us would be. Night after night we’d get excited about new listings, only to be disappointed days later when the house sold to a better offer than ours.
It was discouraging, heartbreaking, and frustrating.
“Lord, why are you doing this to us? Can you please, please, please provide us with a home?” was the constant refrain in my mind each time we were met with disappointment.
Then, finally, we got the news: our offer had been accepted on a home we’d fallen in love with. It was a huge answer to prayer and more than worth the wait. I couldn’t wait to move in, unpack our things, and start building a life in a place that was truly ours.
Yet there I was, not even a month later, angry and upset about scooping out piles of dirt in the flowerbeds to protect the siding. As I wheeled the pile of dirt to our backyard, I found myself thinking, “Isn’t this what I wanted? Lord, I prayed so hard for this, and now I’m angry at the mundane parts of the blessing You’ve provided. Please convict my heart. Help me to remember the joy of this answered prayer.”
When Blessings Become Mundane
When things that once felt like blessings in our lives start feeling like work or mundane routines, it can be really hard to remember how much we used to want what we currently have. Like the job you prayed so hard for that you now find yourself grumbling about during your morning commute. Or the husband you desperately wanted during your time of singleness that you now find yourself glaring at because he’s leaving his dishes in the sink.
The desperate longings of our being too easily become the things we take for granted.
In Matthew 7:7–8 (NIV), Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Our Father loves to answer our prayers. Yet when He does, gratitude can fade as routine settles in. How much more beautiful would our everyday lives be if we acknowledged the grace of answered prayer, especially in the times when we’re tempted to feel bitter about it?
This has been one of the hardest lessons for me lately. I’d rather do anything over yard work. But I prayed so hard for this house. I prayed for a space to make our own. I prayed for land to explore and enjoy. I prayed to finally be a homeowner. Yet when the Lord answered that prayer, I found myself wishing I no longer had any of it.
Bitterness and resentment can blind us to the beauty of what the Lord has given us.
As I wheeled around the never-ending dirt, I prayed another prayer—this one a prayer of gratitude that we finally had a home requiring yard work. Because two years ago, I would have given anything for that.
The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
—Written by Jade Gustman. Used by permission from the author.
