His Ways are Not Our Ways by Lisa Burkhardt Worley
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.”
(Isaiah 55:8).
Have you ever prayed for something but the answer did not happen as you imagined it?
The Lord called me, through a dream, to produce a documentary in France to fight antisemitism, Terror in Toulouse: Has the Community Recovered? Upon completion, I prayed for him to bless it and that many people would view the message. I pitched it at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention where distribution channels expressed interest, but ultimately, did not take it. I was disappointed. Didn’t God call me to do this documentary—at great expense? Why would He allow it to fail?
A good friend, who is a Holocaust survivor, encouraged me to enter Terror in Toulouse into film festivals, so I did. After it won an award, other festivals pursued the documentary, giving discounts if I would submit it to their festivals, so I entered. Terror in Toulouse has now won five awards for “Best Documentary” and one for “Best Editing.” I am standing back and watching God bless this project in a way I never fathomed. These awards are also pushing the documentary out worldwide and is making people aware of the project. His way was not my way, but I am seeing it is a better way.
Sometimes when we pray, we lift up our concern with a detailed plan of how it should be answered. Instead, we should be open to however the Lord wants to respond. Over the years, there have been many answered prayers where I said, “God answered my prayer, but the way He did it was not as I pictured.” Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). If God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, why wouldn’t we release our prayer requests to Him, and let Him work them out in a glorious way? It is fun to sit back and watch the creative ways in which He responds!
If you would like to view Terror in Toulouse: Has the Community Recovered?, here is a link to the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1eJKZWW2zU&t=11s
Thanks to Cinematographer, Brian Sanders, Editor Hannah McGinty, Field Producer, Ephraim Teitelbaum, my husband Jeff, and son Bret for making this documentary possible.