"in the garage."

don't you love when you've got a question you're seriously curious about & the answer sneaks up on you from behind?

it's been a good month since my friend & i commiserated about the frustration of 'thinking of things first.' good thing we're short-sighted.

i brought up the [perhaps tainted?] perspective i had been mulling over/fussing about in my own head - that God must be SO beyond my own thinking that if i could possibly think of it, it would never happen... (so darn it, why did i have to think of that first?! GUH!) after all, the Bible does say:

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9-10

at Bible study, we examined Moses & the way God seemingly changes His mind in response to Moses' pleas - but God is unchanging.

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" - Numbers 23:19

Brad painted a picture for us of God sending us thoughts & then rejoicing when we send them back to Him in prayer. (Moses' heart in his petition was God's heart).

then a wise friend told me about a wise book that explained things this way:

"For his sixth birthday, my oldest son Richard was old enough to have a bicycle. I looked all around for a bicycle. I found a blue Schwinn. I bought it and hid it in the garage. Then I had a task - to convince Richard that he needed a blue Schwinn bike. For the next little while, we began to work with Richard. Richard decided that what he really wanted for his birthday was a blue Schwinn bike. Do you know what Richard got? Well, the bike was already in the garage. I just had to convince him to ask for it. He asked for it, and he got it! What happens when you pray? The Holy Spirit knows what God has 'in the garage.' It is already there. The Holy Spirit's task is to get you to want it - to get you to ask for it. What will happen when you ask for things God already wants to give or do? You will always receive it. Why? Because you have asked according to the will of God. When God answers your prayer, He gets the glory and your faith is increased." - Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God

i could include more from this book, but i'll leave it at that... plus adding it to the list of books i want to read :] feel free to follow the link. to bolster this perspective, though, Dr. Blackaby discusses John 10:4, Philippians 2:13, & John 16:13. speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says:

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you." - John 16:12-14

"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." - Philippians 2:13

& some familiar truths/reminders:

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" - Isaiah 30:18

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." - James 1:17