Sometimes we quit praying because we feel we are not being answered. The fault may lie in our memories. I have found it very useful to keep a prayer journal listing people, situations, etc. for whom I have prayed. My Trilogy spiritual formation group kept joint journals for ten years. It is very enlightening and faith-building to look back at those entries and see where God intervened so many times. At other times, I will have to say that I am thankful God said no--in one of Max Lucado's books, he asks, "Who would you be married to now if God had answered a prayer of early life. Where would you be living? What would you be doing for a living? When I think of all the things I have prayed for selfishly, I hang my head and thank God for being omnipotent. Bill Hybels uses this little outline:
If the request is wrong, God says, No.
If the timing is wrong, God says, Slow.
If you are wrong, God says, Grow.
But if the request is right, the timing is right, and you are right, God says, Go.
It could be that I did not recognize the answer when it came. Adorniram Johnson wrote, "I never prayed sincerely for anything, but it came...at some time, somehow, in some shape.
At any rate, I know that trusting in God's love and care is much better than depending on myself.
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