Unanswered Prayer

I've been trying to think more about what God wants and less about how I'm feeling. It's tough because I'm sinful and selfish and wallowing in the fact that I'm a barren woman.

When you can't have babies and you want to have them and it's Mother's Day, your outlook on life seems much less hopeful. You picture years of loneliness, without family and a child's love and you feel depressed. Despite the fact that you don't know when God is going to take you, it's nice to paint a picture in your mind of how you would like your earthly years to be spent. Dashed expectations are such a downer.

I opened the Bible to the book of Romans and I read what the apostle Paul said in the first chapter, (verses 9 and 10) about prayer. When you can't have babies, you pray for them for years and you never know if God will answer them. It feels most days, like your prayers are going out into the void.

But Paul has this to say:

Rom. 1: 9, 10
9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

The NIV commentary below the passage says this:

"When you pray continually about a concern, don't be surprised how God answers. Paul prayed to visit Rome so he could teach the Christians there.When he finally arrived in Rome, it was as a prisoner (see Acts 28:16). Paul prayed for a safe trip, and he did arrive safely--- after getting arrested, slapped in the face, shipwrecked, and bitten by a poisonous snake.

God's ways of answering our prayers are far from what we often expect. When you sincerely pray, God will answer-- although sometimes with timing and in ways you do not expect."

That's my gem from Jesus for the day. We need to be in prayer, to expect him to answer if we are praying in earnest and with righteous intent. However, we should not expect him to answer on our timetable. I would go a step further to say that we shouldn't expect him to answer at all in the way we want him to. There is no written promise of our happiness or that God will even give me children. He just promises to be with us. Emmanuel.