Beyond Beyond
Through my infertility journey I have gone through various spaces of how I handled the journey. From It’ll happen one day to I trust Him to He promised to doubting His promises to depression to anger to believing in more than I could imagine to more trust than ever.
When I hit the doubt, depression and anger, I especially needed hope. But hope seemed so far away to me. How could I possibly believe in hope, when I had been in this journey so long (at that point it had been 10 years). I felt like His promises weren’t good anymore. That He gave up. That was especially when I needed the hope.
So the Lord navigated me to this verse in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 20. Here it is in the message version:
“God can do anything, you know–far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”
Okay, so He could do it. But would He? And how could it possibly be more than I can imagine?
It was at this point I had just seen the movie, War Room. Man, that was a good movie. But this movie is what brought my attention to Priscilla Shirer, a powerhouse speaker and author. I quickly started following her on social media. And she advertised this event called The Fervent Tour.
So I grabbed a girlfriend and we went to this event. This event was amazing! And she even spoke about Ephesians 3:20. I’m thinking “God, you sure do have a sense of humor.” And what was even funnier than that is what I found when I went to her product table. Her book, God is Able. I read the back of the book for the synopsis of the book. I swear she wrote this book for my journey. I was instantly hooked after i read the synopsis on the back of the book. I knew this book was meant for me.
After getting home and diving into the book I realized the even funnier part… the entire book is based off of Ephesians 3:20-21. I told you He has a sense of humor.
In the book Priscilla used the NASB version of this scripture. So in that version “the more than you can imagine” part is actually worded “far more abundantly beyond”. She dives into the greek meaning of this wording, which is “hyper”. Hyper is used to explain something bigger and greater than the word it’s attached to. That takes this passage to a total different place than what is typically understood.
Look what Priscilla has to say about it:
“Not just beyond, but beyond beyond.
Not just way past, but way past way past.
That’s how Paul describes God and His power to perform astounding miracles: hyper- able. Transcending the normal realm of ability. Way past whatever you’d already consider to be “way past”.” (God is Able, Priscilla Shirer, p. 80)
Now you might be thinking the same thing I was thinking as I first read this book. Okay, yeah, I know God is able. I know He can do more than I can imagine. I get that. He can heal me, in the snap of a finger. But why isn’t He? Look how Priscilla knew that that would be our next question, as she addressed it here:
“I’ve been there and thought it. But whether or not God CHOOSES to do something is a questions of His sovereignty, not His ability. Whether or not He WILL do it is His business, but believing that He CAN–that’s our business.
His ability is not what’s in question. It never has been. Never will be. You must be willing to settle this truth in your heart once and for all.” (God is Able, Priscilla Shirer, p. 62)
My dear friend, I have too been there. Feeling like why hasn’t He, when He can. As Priscilla said, it’s time to stop questioning His ability. We already know He can. It’s our job to trust in His promises and ability. It’s time to trust His Word that He will give “far more abundantly beyond”.
Let’s look at one last scripture that also speaks to this, a scripture that God used to confirm my future son’s name.
Zechariah 9:12 says:
“Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.”
Did you catch that? He will restore “double”. That sounds like that “far more abundantly beyond”… beyond beyond, way past way past. Will you choose to believe it?
