living fully alive

This morning I'm looking up verses to support a 5k run two of my friends and I are orchestrating to raise money for building an African pastor and his family a house in Tintergate, Queenstown, South Africa (any suggestions, by the way, are perfectly welcome). I've been looking for a while and began to get a bit frustrated when nothing was really coming to me, so I just simply prayed "God I need your help here. I don't know where to look." From there, I went to biblegateway.com and typed something in and it brought up Galations 5:6-10, which says:

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 'A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.' I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be."

This doesn't really have much to do with my search, but it spoke to me things I needed to hear about my own life. I read it and it gave me peace, and I realized, once again, I had asked God for something, expecting one type of answer, and He gave me a different kind. Granted, one that didn't much apply to what I was needing at the time, but one I needed for myself. Who knows, maybe getting something out of this verse will help me find another that I need for my task at another time. But something God has been showing me lately is the answers you think are the ones you need to hear, are not always the ones you need to hear. Back in July of '09, a prophetic speaker came to our church. I had been going through a bunch of things and just wanted to hear if God had something to say to me, so I went. The whole time this guy was teaching, I kept thinking, "God, I just need to hear You. I just need to know what to do next in this certain situation, or whether or not to take this path or that one." I wanted specific answers. The Pastor didn't speak to me in front of everyone like he did for most of the others, but after it was over, he came to me and said "I have a word for you." He told me that The things of the past I was holding onto, needed to be let go of. I was expecting him to say that, if I did this, a certain thing pertaining to my recent inquiries would happen, or not happen, or that I would get an answer to this or that, but he didn't. After he said that, all he said was, "You're going to experience great Joy in these next few years, stop worrying."
I, of course, began to weep profusely. My heart had been touched.
Since then, God has, in many situations, further shown me that He hears me, He hears my cries and my questions, but that I don't always need the answers I think I need. He answers in the way that will help me best. The way that's going to further my walk with Him. I've never forgotten that God promised me Joy. I would've appreciated some direct answers to my specific issues at the time, but those words wouldn't have lasted past the solving of those problems. A promise, however, of everlasting Joy, lasts a lifetime. I'm already experiencing it.

Maybe the verse I found isn't exactly the one I need, but God gave it to me. Now I need to look in my own heart, see where it applies, and find out why. I'm thankful.