Hey friends, how are you today? How did you celebrate Memorial Day if you live in the US? We had a wonderful family day, spent with the girls cleaning and hubby and I cooking. We ended the day by going for a drive to a little ice cream shop that we had previously visited only to find it closed.  We ended up getting the ice cream from a shop within walking distance of our home, after all.  Good times… how was your day spent?

Plans seldom take our initial paths, right? I recently shared with you that in our Ladies’ Sunday School class we are going through a book by Cynthia Heald called Becoming a Woman of Prayer.  It is an okay book, I like the titles of the chapters, but at times, I do have some difficulty with my attempts to decipher the author’s thought process in the correlation of her question to the possible answers from the suggested verses.  The answers to her questions are not always obvious in the chosen scriptures, which usually calls for more in depth reading which of course could be her reason for writing her book this way.  Huh! Didn’t think about that! Anyway, I digress… back to the point.  

On Sunday we looked at these scripture verses, Romans 8:26-34, and in this instance, we were able to answer the question with the suggested scriptures.  The question was “how does God help us in our weakness in prayer”? For the answer to this question, read the verses, the encouragement found there will bring strength to the soul. But do you know something? Although I’ve read this verse multiple times, I only just realized on Sunday that the weakness spoken about was my weakness in prayer! Really!! Did you know that? Why didn’t someone tell me? 

I’ve been doing it wrong all this time and I didn’t even know it! Here I thought that I knew what I needed and wanted from the Lord, I just needed Him to sign off on these requests, and all along, the truth is I do not even know what to pray for, in the first place.  Wow! 

In my limited sight and with my limited knowledge, at times, I think my plans to go here and there and to do this and that look absolutely perfect, I mean there is just no way, the Lord can say no to this! It is the perfect solution to this problem.  And Someone more prefect than I ever could be, a Person, who loves me far more than I could ever love me or them, makes intercession on my behalf with words far beyond my limited understanding for my own good.  Absolutely amazing! 

Why then was I so fearful? Why was I anxious and worried? Of course, I bring my cares to the Lord, of course I share with Him the direness of the situation and of course I also bring to Him my very perfect solution, but now with my knowledge that the Holy Spirit with all His wisdom, with perfect understanding,  who knows all things and sees all things, who loves me and mine completely, who will ‘complete the work, He started in me, whose faithfulness does not depend on me or on my doings or lack thereof, is the One who speaks for me, because I truly do not know what’s good for me because … well you know, I’m limited.  He speaks to my Heavenly Father and together they work out what’s best for me and my situations.  I could have had that security and that peace of mind all along.  

How many answered prayers went to the unanswered pile because I’m still waiting for my prayers to be answered? How many solutions did I miss because it wasn’t the one, I had planned? How many disappointments and discouragements could have been avoided if I hadn’t held on to my ways so tightly? How far along this journey could I have been, if only I had acknowledged my weaknesses and believed in His strengths?  Ahh grace and mercy.  How thankful I am that grace and mercy go before, to welcome me to brand new days. 

Because we serve the God, who is unwilling to leave us to our devises, who loves us unconditionally and whose care for His precious people is legendary, we can trust Him with all that matters to us.  We can bring all our cares of this world, with all our imperfect solutions, and rest assured that He listens with great patience and gentleness, but ultimately, He will do what is best for us.  We can only see and accept His best answers to our prayers when we surrender to His perfect will for our lives.  

We’ve not been left alone to flounder in this walk with the Lord, He gave us His Spirit who comforts us and also intercedes on our behalf.  We can trust Him. 

How are you today? Are you pleased that your prayers are not always answered along the paths, you selected for yourself? 

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