One of the stories of the Bible that has really stood out to me lately is from Luke 5. I love it when you’re reading the Word and it catches you in a new way. In this chapter, Jesus and the disciples (as well as a ton of other followers) are on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. After Jesus finished teaching, he told Simon Peter to row the boat out into deep water and let the nets out. And Simon Peter is like, "Look, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but we were up all night fishing and didn’t catch so much as a minnow. But (can’t you hear the sigh?) if you say so, I’ll throw out the net. One more time." The Bible says the nets were no sooner tossed out than they were filled to bursting with fish. The Message Bible says the nets were strained past capacity. They filled two boats with their catch.

Then Simon Peter falls to his knees before Jesus, just in awe of the miracle. He was so overcome by what Jesus had done and the power before him, he told Jesus to just leave him, that he wasn’t worthy to be in the presence of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a patient person. Yet I think we all have things that are long-term prayer requests—pleas for health, the prayer for a lost loved one, a new job, or the prayer for a major life change. I love how Jesus shows us in Luke to "Just one more time—throw that net out there." Because it’s so easy to give up. But even when we come back with nothing in our nets, we must still pursue our prayer request until we get a firm "no.c We have to carry on in our belief of deliverance even when it looks like there is no possible way it’s going to happen.

In this Christmas season when we celebrate the amazing gift of Jesus, I don’t want to give up. I don’t want to lose hope. I want to keep putting my faith out there, even when I come up empty handed. Because one day Jesus is going to walk by and say, "Throw your net out. . .one more time." And I want to be there for that opportunity. I want to be ready. Because afterward comes the gift of blessings to the point of overflowing—blessings so amazing I’ll stand in awe of my Heavenly Father, and like Peter say, "I cannot even comprehend this miracle. I’m not worthy." Then bask in the mercy of God and his expansive goodness and love.