Recently, I was listening to Lisa Harper’s “Back Porch Theology” podcast, and she was discussing the power of prayer with Susie Larson. The whole thing was impactful, but one thing Susie said stuck with me. She noted that when prayers are not being answered the way we hope, when we are lamenting and questioning the Lord, our framing of the situation can be our enemy. And y’all, that got me thinking.
I went home, sat in my living room, studied the framed photos around me, and decided to do a little digging. It turns out that a frame is defined as “a rigid border that encloses, holds, or shapes something.” When used as a frame of reference, it is “a set of assumptions, ideas, or standards that shape how a person interprets experiences.” And oh, my sweet friends, what the Lord put on my heart.
So often, I focus only on what I can see with my eyes. I picture it, set it in a frame that I view with my own skewed lens, and ruminate over the picture in front of me, as if that is all there is and all that can ever be. A rigid border that is shaped by my assumptions and interpretations of what the Lord is doing encloses my experience. But y’all, look at what we are missing when we do this.
Scripture says:
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27
“For nothing will be impossible with God!” Luke 1:37
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but waht is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
“…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29
“Now to Him, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
There is so, so much more than we can see with our human eyes, y’all. And when we frame our circumstances with human understanding, we limit what the Lord can do. We capture temporary moments in time based on fear and the voices of untruth from the Enemy.
My sweet friends, I pray that instead of framing our circumstances with rigid borders, we will lay them down on a canvas that the Lord can continue to shape and paint and write on and work in as we trust Him with the story of our lives. That we will allow Him to show us how each individual moment is connected to another as He links and weaves and does immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine.
“My Father is always working, and so am I.” John 5:17
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