Waiting for Answered Prayers

After waiting for answered prayers, God often surprises us.

After waiting for answered prayers, God often surprises us.

Waiting for answered prayers seldom comes easily. I love the immediate yes answer. And I can handle a no answer. But wait and trust… Seriously? Wait and trust? What does that even mean? Psalm 37 is a great place to look at this. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Makes sense. Sounds good.

Have you ever waited for God’s answer for a long time, and all you hear is wait. Trust me. You don’t have a solid yes, but you don’t have a no either. How frustrating. So you wait. You choose to wait. You don’t have to wait. You can take matters into your own hands. But maybe—like me—you’ve been there, done that and even though you got the t-shirt, you wish you didn’t. The disastrous results taught you that it’s better to wait on the Lord. So that’s what you choose.

Waiting becomes excruciating as time passes. You wait. And wait. And then wait some more. Will God ever answer? I confess, I faced such a time—on more than one occasion—and I reached a point where I wanted to give up. Just quit. The Lord wouldn’t let me though. I kept hearing the words of a bookmark my mother gave me once. “Rest if you must, but do not quit.” Still, in my humanity I prayed, “Lord, I’m done. I can’t keep hoping.” I resigned myself to the answer of no. I must have heard wrong. Or maybe I clung to hope when God was telling me no all along.

Then I surrendered completely, laying the request at His feet and truly giving it up. That’s what God really wants from us—to roll our burdens over onto Him. So that’s what I did, and finally, my waiting ended. Yet my heart still held to that prayer. Why, Lord, will you not take this longing away from me? I’m willing to give it up, but my heart aches sometimes.

Then suddenly, the answer came. Unexpected. Amazing. Greater than anything I could ever dream or imagine.

BOOM. “There you go, baby girl.”

What? Did that really happen? I prayed for so long and without warning, the answer fell into my lap. I didn’t have to do a thing to receive His gift.

In such a moment, why would I doubt that the answer came from God? After all, I prayed for years. The waiting finally ended, yet I wondered. “Is this really from God?” Absolutely. And the answer was greater than I ever anticipated.

The subject of my prayer doesn’t matter. What matters is that when we wait patiently for the Lord to answer a prayer, He is faithful to do it. The question then is simple. Do I embrace His answer immediately and thank Him? Or do I ponder and waste precious time questioning what He gave me?

Why do I doubt and fight against the goodness of God’s sweet mercy in my life? So I choose—embrace the blessing He pours all over me, sweet mercies of my loving Daddy.

What about you? Have you given up hope after waiting so long to see His answer?

Or maybe you’re looking at His answer, wondering if it can be true. The trust doesn’t end when God answers your prayer. In fact, you may need to trust him even more.

Let me encourage you, go ahead and ask Him if what you see before you is indeed your answer. And if He says yes, embrace it and thank Him for His faithfulness, no matter how crazy the answer seems.

How may I pray for you? Comment and share your requests. Or email me if you want to keep it private. Remember, we have a good, good Father. “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10.

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