Pray for Guidance

It so happens that every time I go buying something that I really wanted, I'm blessed with another experience of God's planning for me and His promise to listen and act on our prayers for our good. This time, it's the purchase of a new smartphone.

So like most of my purchases, I tend to take my time in researching and gathering as much data as I could possibly get my hands on. My Dad gave me a budget that I had to stick to and I started off looking for plans among the telcos. I guess I must've prayed for a few months before on and off I found a nice plan from Virgin Mobile and I settled on a Samsung Galaxy S2. It was perfect for its price range with good tech reviews and specs; the plan itself offered just the right amount that I needed in terms of credit. What's more it was on special, if I ordered- I'd get a bonus 1.5Gb worth of free data for the first 6 months of my plan!

Impulsively, I wanted to get the plan. I had a chat with my Dad, he was delighted that I managed to save his wallet (haha) and gave me the all go to buy it. Then I remembered. It was God who would've provided me with such an awesome gift; so I really should pray-- ask God is this THE phone that you have in mind for me? I guess when I pray I tend to be quite demanding of the signs that I get-- I tend to make the possibilities of negation really low. So what I prayed was 

"God, I really want to do everything in Your Will, because I know that it will always be the best for me. I thank you so much for blessing me with this awesome plan. However, if this is not what you had in mind for me, please do whatever you can and stop me from buying it."

As I went through the process of purchasing the phone and plan, all was smooth going. However, when  went to the last page, the website suddenly crashed. No joke. It just crashed. Some may consider this a coincidence (I did), so I tried again. It still crashed. On the next day I tried again. It crashed.

Well. I said to myself. What clearer sign did I want? Stupidly, however, I still kept my eye on the model. 

And now come April. The Samsung S4 came out! The S2 suprisingly didn't depreciate. But what made me even more worried was the fact that the phone was almost out of stock having been on the market for 2 years. My only chance of getting a good quality phone for a decent price... So yet again, I prayed again-- a similar prayer but this time saying that everything has to go smoothly...

This time, unwilling to be a victim of the website crashing on me again, I brought my passport, medicare, and all other supporting documents to the official Virgin Mobile dealer. Well, all was good, I got hold of the last few that were available. But then, like the previous incident, I apparently didn't have enough transactions on my bank card statement to prove that I live at my house. So I went out filling up the necessary number of transactions needed, thinking that it'll help me reach that quota... it was futile, I went to the bank and they said that it won't appear on my statement until the next day.

Well. I guess God really didn't want me to get it. Haha. So I went home and decided to go fishing again. Soon enough, I found myself at ****'s website which offered amazingly cheap BYO deals. And a bit more searching, I found a realllllly cheap S3, brand new. Combining them together, voila, I got a deal cheaper than the S2 and with a newer and better phone :D Still haven't bought it yet.... prayed and awaiting God's response.. patiently...

I guess what I've (re)learnt 3 main things:

1. Never, ever, ever think that God won't listen to your prayers. He will listen. Even if you think that you're asking a lot or what you're praying seems to be impossible. Even if, what you desired is not ascertained at all, be sure that God has an even better plan for you; as mentioned by Jesus in Matts 7:11:
   "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11
2. God rewards those who wait and hope for Him. I don't think much can be said but that this is most absolutely true. God's timing is always the best. I've never felt disappointed from waiting too long for something... So many passages in Bible illustrate this, here are some favorites:
   "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." Lamentations 3:25
3. Don't doubt God's judgement. When you pray for some sign or something and God turns it down, trying to go against it will only waste your effort and time:
   "... what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open." Isaiah 22:22

Just put all your trust and faith in Him who controls all. 

Be still and know He's God.

Have fun~!

Chu