Behind the scenes
by Carrie Harris

People often comment on my various beliefs and abilities, saying,

"I wish I could pray like you,"
"I wish I could play the flute like you,"
"I wish I was a smart as you,"
"I wish I could have faith in God like you,"

You get the idea. Too many more, and it would start to sound like pride >.<

People look at me and they see someone who is smart, funny, optimistic, talented, and full of faith (based on actual comments). What they don't see is the years of heartache and disappointment, the years of rejection, all the sleepness nights spent wrestling with God, all the fears and doubts and trials, all the lessons repeated ad naseum until they were passed. They don't see the trail of lessons in faith, the journey of learning what to and what not to pray for, the painful hours and days and months and years spent doing the same thing over and over and over until I got it right.

They don't see the confrontations from Godly men and women who saw when I was going the wrong way. They don't see the tears of frustration, self-pity, self-doubt. They didn't see God teaching me to believe for bigger and bigger things, starting from something so small, and working up to something so fantastic!

I could go on and on, but I think I'd lose the point if I did.

Nothing worth having comes easy. You can't pray for wisdom and expect to suddenly be wise; if you pray for wisdom, God is going to put you through some difficult tests and trials, shaping and moulding and poking and prodding and shaping some more, until the wisdom is acquired.

You can pray for prosperity and expect to become rich, but if you pray for prosperity, God is going to prepare you. He is going to give you small blessings, and He is going to test your faithfulness. He is going to see what you do when you have very little, so He knows what you will do when you have a lot. He is going to give you ever increasing amounts, and see what you do with it. When He is certain you can handle large amounts with generosity and wisdom, THEN He will prosper you.

You can ask for whatever you want, but God will only give it to you if it is to your benefit. He will study your heart and your motives, He will examine your attitude, He will test you and try you and shape you and mould you. He will do things in His time, according to His plan. He won't give you anything until you are ready to handle it.

We see the big-time preachers, the big-shot businessmen, the people who start successful charities ... and we think that it's all a gift, that it all landed on their lap in a silver platter. This is simply not true. Every single successful person in this world became successful because they were willing to put in the time and effort, and BUILD something.

Leonardo didn't pick up a paintbrush for the first time and suddenly paint the Mona Lisa. No, he spent years and years learning, making mistakes, improving his technique, discovering what worked and what didn't, most likely seeking encouragement and advice from a mentor, drawing the same thing over and over and over until he got it right ... and THEN he painted the Mona Lisa.

We also need to learn to have faith in ourselves. Not faith apart from God, but faith that we can do what God has called us to do. You see, God and me's a team. I CAN'T do it all myself, and God WON'T do it all Himself. He'll ask me to come so far, and then He'll meet me there.

Those who succeed in what God has called them to do succeed because they believed that with God's help, they COULD, and they put their trust in Him to do His part while they did theirs. This trust didn't come overnight; it was built up over the years. It came from trials and hardships, and seeing that God was always there, and it took time.

The lesson here is that if you want to be successful, you must be prepared to put in the hard yards. Nothing comes immediately; there is a lot of work and growth and patience required. God has called you to be someone awesome and amazing, a vessel for His work, but are you willing to pay the price?