“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”(Ephesians 3:17-20 NIV)

As I watched out the back door, I couldn’t help but notice her. The rather plain looking bird stood nervously with a mouth full of twigs and dried grass, so I waited to see where she might plan to start her family. She jumped up on the grill and was out of sight for a few minutes, but alas, she jumped up on the porch rail and was gone again. As soon as she was out of sight, I went out to inspect her work and found that she had tried to make a nest on the grill where there was a large crack and all her work had fallen in a pile on the deck. I laughingly told Larry about our misguided feathered friend. In the next few days, we enjoyed the flurry of activity, but again the pile of twigs, grass and sticks in the place she tried hopelessly to build a nest. Thinking our friend was a freak of nature, we watched her work.

Deciding to investigate the mysterious activity, Larry looked in the grill and discovered that our industrious little friend had gathered enough materials to fill the entire grill on the inside. As we observed her handy work, we found that in the middle of her grand display was a perfectly formed nest, a perfect place to lay her tiny eggs.

Sometimes, as we observe God, we can’t see that our prayers are being answered and we plead again and again for his attention to our problem. All we can see is a pile of twigs heaped on the floor. But unbeknownst to us, he works diligently to answer our prayer in his own time and way.

Hopelessly lost in our disappointment, we open a new chapter and find that Our Father has been working all the time building a mansion instead of just a nest. He has answered more than we could think or ask.

The bible tells us He can do immeasurably more than we can even comprehend.

Prayer: Father God, you are so good! Praise your Holy Name!

Jeanie Nihiser
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31