Technical Difficulties

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When we first got married, my husband and I did not have cable. I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous, but it actually worked well for us during that time. I am not going to lie; we did have a secret weapon with the DVD seasons of Brother’s and Sisters. We both were hooked on the ABC show then and still watch it to this day. Recently, however, we are forced to watch it online because of our levelheaded bedtimes 

So, last night was the night. We sat down together in our chair, pulled up abc.com and settled in for an hour of great television. As luck would have it, we got about 30 minutes into the episode and then my computer started going haywire. The video was stalling, the voices were stuttering and, after two restarts, it became clear that technical difficulties were at an all time high.

After a while of struggling with it, I gave up. I was tired. I was frustrated. I decided that I would rather quit watching it all together than have to sit there and be annoyed. If it wasn’t going to go my way then I didn’t want anything to do with it. Period.

Hebrews 12:7
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” - NIV

I have to wonder how much of my life is wasted with this mentality of my way or no way. I wish that I could say my frustration with life ended at internet television, but I cannot. With my spiritual walk alone, I have started, become frustrated, and quit a number of times. If God was not presenting me with all that I expected and making life easy, why was I bothering? Surely, it wasn’t worth the effort.

How do we respond when we do not get what we want? Do we remain faithful? Do we trust that He will deliver? Do we complain? Do we quit all together?

Sometimes, in my experience, God’s first response to prayer is not always His final answer. Perhaps, He is testing our faith, testing our trust. The nature of our response may determine the results we visibly witness.

It may not be the answer we want, but when we seek Him in faith, He does answer.