A Return to Prayer

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you know that I’ve struggled with the concept of prayer. I’ve had things in my life not work out anywhere close to the way I prayed. And I had done everything I knew to do. All the tricks to get God to do what I wanted Him to do, I had tried. I had prayed frequently, fervently, and faithfully. I had used scripture. When I finally came to what I thought was the end, God had in no visible way answered my entirely biblical request. So for a time, I gave up on prayer. Obviously I had a lot wrong here. Prayer is not about me pressuring God to do what I want, and gradually I came to realize that. I tried to come to terms with the fact that God knew best. It still didn’t make any sense to me, but I knew that God was good, and that somehow He had a plan.

And then He answered.

It’s hard to even put into words how incredible this is to me. All that time when I thought He wasn’t listening, He heard every word I said. All that time I thought nothing was happening, He was working. All that time I thought the answer was no, it was actually trust me and wait. I got a relationship back I thought I had lost forever. I’m still stunned, and incredibly grateful, and wishing I had trusted Him more.

I’m not saying the answer is always going to be yes. I’m not saying you’ll always get what you want. Frankly, there are still some situations in my life which I have prayed over and I don’t like.  There may be heartache and confusion and agonizing waiting. But never doubt that God hears, friend. Never doubt that He is working. He has a plan, and He is good, and we can trust Him completely.