Growing Through His Answers to Our Prayers

Do you ever wonder if God really hears your prayers.  I have no doubt He hears, sometime His answers are not what we expect though.  I have learned to pray very specific prayers over very specific dreams, I keep a journal and write them all down.  I never want to forget that He always answers.  

   We may never understand His answers or His timing but just knowing they are His is enough.   

I have circled my marriage, my children, our home, our finances, our jobs and our health for years.  There have been failed businesses , major sicknesses, broken hearts, financial loss, deaths and more even in the midst of the prayers.   But an amazing thing happens when you pray.  God gets you through it and grows you in the process.  I would not take one heartbreak I have had out of my life, because I have become a better person, more understanding, patient, willing to do the hard things, have the hard conversations, because of the hard times.  

It’s like a child learning to walk.  In the process they fall, a lot!  There are bruises, scrapes and sometimes stitches.  But without the falls they would not learn to walk.  The end is so much better then the beginning.  

The building in the pictures was a sweet dream I had.  It could house Village to Village one day.  It could be a community center for local families.  A place to learn art, music and cooking.  A venue for weddings, graduations and family events.  A friend and I circled the building one Spring evening, praying for God to be in it.  Within two weeks of that prayer walk the building was demolished.  

My heart broke.  But I remembered that prayer walk, what we ask for and I praised God for such a sure answer.  One like I have never experienced in such a short amount of time.  We may never know the why but we do know the who and His answers are always better.  The story is not over, it will just happen in another place at another time.

What are you circling in prayer today?  Don’t stop.  Rest in the knowledge that God hears those prayers.  He cares.  He will answer.  It may not be the answer you expect but it will be better then you ever imagined.