Normally, when I think of limiting God, I think of doubting Him. Thinking, “God can’t find a solution here.” Or “How is He possibly going to get me through?” But I’ve come to realize it’s more than that. I think when we limit God, we’re trying to put Him in a box, a box of our own creation and not His. We try to define Him by our own knowledge and our own definitions.
We think if He is going to bless us, those blessings should look the way we imagined. If He is going to make our dreams come true, they should be all we wanted. But I think sometimes blessings come in disguise simply because they don’t look the way we expected. I think if we look around, we’ll realize we’re more blessed than we thought.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? – Matthew 7:11 KJV
Let me give an example.
In my post, God-Marks, I shared how devastated I was when my doctor told me I might not be able to have children. Upset and disappointed, I wondered if God was going to keep me from my dream. But then He said, “What about adoption?” At first, I wasn’t convinced. Then He reminded me that there are children in this world who need love. And I knew He was right.
Yet, I wondered if I could love an adopted child the same way I could a biological child. I wondered if not carrying a child for nine months and bonding with him would affect my care for him. Then my sister had a baby, and everything changed. I realized that while my love for my niece isn’t the same as my sister’s, while I didn’t have those nine months of bonding, I still loved that child with everything in me. I still had a responsibility. And I still had a duty.
Fast forward a few years, and now I have two nieces that are like my own daughters. They don’t share my last name or half of my DNA. I don’t have them 24/7. Yet they’re still my children. And I’ve begun to realize that He’s given me children in other ways.
I have students in my classes who hug me and say, “I missed you, Miss Jennifer.” There are my friends’ children that I adopted as my own nieces and nephews. And my nieces who I love as my own. While I didn’t give birth to them, while I haven’t raised them, I’ve still accepted a role of responsibility in their lives—a responsibility to guide them spiritually, be a good role model, and be there when they need me.
My love may not be the same as their mother’s, but it’s a powerful love all the same. And I almost missed it, because I was looking for the blessing to be in a certain package. I was limiting God because I only considered my own power and my own ideas, instead of trusting Him.
Takeaway
Sometimes gifts come in unexpected packages. We can become consumed with comparing our packages with everyone around us instead of looking inside. How many times have we missed blessings because we were too busy looking at someone else’s?
Maybe we should take a moment to do inventory—to look inside all the packages. Maybe we should stop trying to conform God to what we want Him to be and instead enjoy who He is. He’s a Father who loves us and knows what’s best for us. And sometimes what’s best comes in unexpected ways.
So let’s stop limiting God. Let’s stop putting our faith in a box. Because God cannot be contained. He cannot be constrained to our definitions. He is literally out of this world.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on justjenniferpurcell.com
Featured Image by Chris Liu
