Praying

I have been praying differently lately. I have been asking God to help me with the things that need to fixed about me: my control, my pride, my judgment. I have even been getting on my knees at the side of my bed and saying the "Our Father" as an intro to my nightly prayer before I go to sleep. I have asked God to let me see the world with His eyes, and He has been answering that prayer for me, especially in the gym where I work out. I have just started to pray for the gift of healing. I still pray for selfish things, like the sale of our house, but my focus is on what He can do with the situation and not what I think that I can do with it.
I firmly believe that God does answer prayers. He answers them in His time and not ours. Some doors He will open and some He will close. He knows what is best for us. I receive a daily devotional from my counselor and as usual, the timing of some of them have been amazing! Divine appointments and answered prayers in themselves. Here is the one that I just received on Friday:

C.S. Lewis once said that we can bear to be refused but not ignored. In other words, our faith can survive many refusals if they really are refusals and not mere disregards. God always hears us. God always answers our prayers. His answers are yes, no, or wait. When we complain that God does not answer our prayers, we really mean that we cannot tolerate a negative answer. Most of our prayers are selfish requests or misguided petitions that need refusals. God hears us only too well.

As a father may hear his son plead for a dangerous firearm and refuse it, knowing the child is too young to be trusted with a gun, so too our Father in heaven in the same wisdom may not give what we ask for. God gives what we need, not what we want. He may give us the very no we need to accept in order to wait until we are ready. Often, an indication of our readiness for deeper connection with the Almighty is when we stop disregarding past harms we caused others and make things right as appropriate.

As we become more intimate with God, we discover that he is more open to "make me" prayers than "give me" prayers. Part and parcel of molding, shaping and making me into a person whose heart beats for God is removing past infirmities that taint the masterpiece he is creating. He is much more interested in making us vitally connected with him than in giving us what we want. We would do much better to ask to be made over than given unto. We need changing, not spoiling. After all, if we pray, the answer is really God's will, not ours. He really does know best, and he really does answer.

Father, thank You for prayers that are answered and unanswered. You are in control and I trust You. In Jesus, Amen!
Peace!