I recently celebrated year four with my amazing husband Tom, which I feel deserves a "we're officially a happy married couple, not simply newly-weds" badge. Besides the point, anniversaries always make me a little sentimental, so I decided to revisit some old journals. I pulled out a box and picked up a journal from 2007. It didn't take long to realize that most of my prayers were, "help this date to go well," "help guyX to see me as who I am," "lead to me the man that I'm supposed to marry," etc. etc. Not quite as bad as praying for a new barbie jeep, but was dating and marriage my only focus in 2007? It may seem sweet, but it's really quite shallow. Where was the "forgive me of my sins, as I forgive others," the "lead me not into temptation," or the "your Kingdom come, Your will be done" (Matt 6:9-13)? I was so focused on using prayer as a God make my life happy for me right now, that I forgot to pray that God be in my life right now.Prayer is an act of the Christian life that gets a lot of exposure. People are invited to pray before meals, they are promised prayers when someone is sick, they read about prayer on social media. Very rarely, however, are these public prayers centered on forgiveness, peace, patience, or even what we need most, salvation. Most public prayers are for physical healing or providing physical needs, which is not bad in itself. If fact, God asks us to pray for these things and he answers, so that His name is glorified (Luke 18:7, 1 John 5:14-15, Psalm 145:18-19). The struggle is that if prayers for physical needs are all that we're exposed to, God is only glorified when physical needs are met in a world that is broken. I would even venture to say that God answers prayers with supernatural peace, joy that exceeds all circumstances, and even a lesson in sanctification more than a physical healing. However, in our limited understanding we forget to thank God for these answered prayers.
In turn, we tend to equate sickness or pain as God's inability to answer prayers, but did you know that God promises that life on earth will be uncomfortable and hard at times? "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). God put a thorn in Paul's side and Paul writes in 2 Cor. 12:8, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me." Later we see Paul write, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness." We also see Jesus himself understand life's pain as he prays "Father, if you are willing take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." God wants to mature us, grow us, and finish the good work that he began in us (Phil 1:6), which may not look as pretty as we want it to. It may not include a hot pink grill, power wheels, and comfy seats.
God's ultimate promise is to make all things new and restore the earth, to save people from their sin, to bring light into the darkness. We can count 100% on God's promises and in the meantime, we are to pray. In Rev. 5, it is written that the prayers of the saints are incense to God. I pray that my prayers look beyond the temporary. I also hope that when others see me and my family pray, they will know that prayer is more than a kind gesture or hope for happiness, but confidence in God who is at work daily. We probably won't spend our life jammin in a dream barbie jeep, but we'll look back and realize that our journey with Christ was just what we needed!
