ANSWERED PRAYERS

"How many aspects of your current life are answers to your past prayers?"

I heard someone pose this question recently and it made me realize how prone we are to taking even the most incredible blessings for granted. It is a question that should reorient us to the reality of every good gift coming from God. It is a question that should spark renewed gratitude.

Ongoing gratitude.

If you're anything like me, your list likely includes most of the basics, if not all: daily bread, shelter, transportation, meaningful work (and if not, some sort of income at least).

At the top of my list - no contest - is my wife and children.

I can't tell you how long and how often I prayed throughout my twenties (with very little faith most times, to be honest) that the Lord would send me a wife. That I would someday have a family of my own. I prayed and cried and doubted for well over a decade.

My requests were answered in God's time, and I have been blessed now for over twenty years. When the Apostle Paul describes God as the One "who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think", I have a good idea of what he means! (Ephesians 3:20) 

All I need to do is take a close look at Melissa and Caleb and Hannah and Samuel and Sarah. 

[I am aware that this post may be depressing for anyone who has also prayed for a spouse and found nobody (yet) or desperately desired children, and met only infertility. 

So I must acknowledge that although I have many blessings in my life that are answers to past prayers, obviously I do not have everything I ever prayed for. I think of the baby we lost, my father's brain tumor at a relatively young age, our perpetually anemic bank account, and jobs/ministries that ended prematurely, among other things. 

And so, just as answered prayers ought to inspire renewed gratitude, I suppose unanswered prayers ought to inspire renewed trust - in God's goodness, sufficiency, timing and wisdom.]