It has barely been 24 hours since I announced in yesterday’s blog about my new job, and the comments have covered the whole range of available answers!  “Really, you want to work parttime??”  “Is that because you are afraid nothing was happening?”  “Isn’t it too soon to rule out other options?”  And my favorite, “Why are you settling for that?”

What fun!  While most people have been supportive and congratulating me, I have actually heard -either by text, phone, or in person – all of the above comments in some form or another.  We have become a society of outspoken people, and never more than when we think an opinion is wanted/welcomed.  And I am just as guilty of that as anyone else I know.

This is not the first time in my life that I have heard this – this “settling” for something.  As if something bigger, greater, and more wonderful was waiting just around the next corner.  Sometimes, I really did “settle” for something, and God did have other options available.

But as I get older, and hopefully wiser and more mature, I have come to realize something.  When someone asks “are you settling for ____________”, I can truthfully answer NO.  After all, if I have prayed for an answer, earnestly asked God to provide, and see Him working to answer that prayer, why then would I turn around and question Him about it?  Or why would I question another believer about their decision if I know the same is true about them?

When we use the phrase “settling for”, we are usually implying that what has been given, or an answer that has been received, is less than.  Why?  Is it a case of the grass is always greener?  Or is my faith less mature because I believe that I have received guidance from the Lord on something that may not meet other’s expectations and I proceed forward?

One of my favorite Bible stories is of the early Christians praying for Peter’s release from jail, and while they are praying God releases him. Peter goes to the house where they are praying, knocks on the door, and they’re like, “Quiet!  We’re in the middle of a prayer meeting here to get Peter released” (paraphrase mine, see Acts 12:5-16 for the whole story).

Isn’t that a riot?  And that’s what this post is about.  When God answers a prayer or need, rejoice and go with His answer!  So, YES, God has answered my unemployment prayer, and YES, the answer is parttime work, and YES He has other great things for me to do that I couldn’t do working fulltime!   It’s all about HIM, and HIS desire, and I am fine with that!