I suspect that all of us have at one time, or another wondered if our prayer would ever be answered. I know I have had that thought cross my mind a few times in my lifetime. Sometimes our prayers are answered but we just refuse to pay attention because it is not the answer we want.
Personally I questioned whether God was listening to my prayers when I was carrying my first child... I had trouble from the very beginning.... I sensed something was not right because one day I would look like I was 6 months pregnant and the next day you couldn't even tell.... to me this seemed strange but nobody seemed to think so... or maybe they just did not want to worry me. Then I was put to bed because I was bleeding and I prayed that the baby would be alright... unfortunately that was not the case.... I ended up delivering him at 22 weeks and he only lived for about an hour. I never got to hold him or say goodbye, I was an emotional disaster, I was angry at God for taking my son, I was angry at myself thinking I should have done something to prevent this..... basically I was broken. But then God blessed me with another baby and I was extremely careful with her. When I was wheeled into the delivery room I was petrified to deliver even though she was full term! I was afraid God would take her from me too! They ended up putting me to sleep to deliver her and when I woke up I was excited to find out that I had a beautiful baby girl. A prayer had been answered...... but had it??? My marriage was done and now I had a child to raise. My life seemed to be like a roller coaster without any stopping. I stopped praying because I did not think God had time for my little prayers. It was during this time that I got further away from God and became very lost. I remarried, had two more daughters, became totally destroyed mentally and physically run down due to my choices. I used to blame my ex-husband for all the things he put me through but, I have come to realize that even though he did completely control me mentally, I still made choices...... bad ones.... but mine none the less, thus I have to be accountable for the choices I made and know that God forgave me for them long ago. Once again I wondered....does God even hear me????
I gradually began to believe and trust in God again and things were pretty good..... then like before my world started falling apart..... my father became sick and was diagnosed with cancer..... we had 6 weeks with him from the day he was diagnosed to his death.... again I wondered where was God??? The answers were right in front of me but I just did not want to see them...... God made it possible for my dad's brother to come from California, despite weather issues and be by his side when he died. He got to say goodbye to all of us and showed us, not to be afraid of death because it was full of love and peace. My mother had an awful time letting go..... she suffered severe depression and then her health started deteriorating and twenty years after losing dad, we lost mom. Now at this time I believed in prayer very much because my mother had to have several surgeries for her to have dialysis and I prayed every time for her to be ok. Now the day my mother died I was at work and I was praying for her all morning... I prayed for her to have peace from pain and suffering, but then I changed my prayer and asked to show her grace....... I'll never forget that because right as I said Amen to that prayer I received the call from home that mom was dying!!! I only lived two minutes from home and I made it there in one minute but she was already gone..... Now I felt that God had taken her because of my prayer for grace!!! I know this is not the case but, in my heart I felt responsible for her death.... From then on I refused to pray for grace when someone was ill. My prayer was answered because my mother was suffering not because of my prayer.
On a brighter note, for years I prayed that my grandchildren would be watched over and have good homes when they were taken from their mother. I prayed for her also because she did everything humanly possible to get her children back but due to circumstances beyond our control that did not happen. Now years later I have contact with three of my grandchildren. We are not physically close but we do communicate via social media and that is alright by me. Any communication is better than none and they are great adults!! My grandson is even a father of two beautiful baby girls, who look just like him!!! My granddaughter has a precious son and my youngest grandson has a beautiful daughter also. So are prayers answered???? Definitely!!!! We just have to be aware of them and be ready for whatever answer is sent to us..... it doesn't happen in an instant but it does happen..... In God's time...... not ours..... So don't worry about prayers being answered..... They definitely are and are always for our good..... even if it doesn't seem so at the time.....
All you have to do is look around at the many blessings God gives us every day to know that prayers are definitely answered!!!! Now I pray every day all day long........ Sometimes my days are just one huge prayer!!!! It's an awesome feeling of peace that no amount of words can express. So my friends until next time I'll keep you in my prayers. Keep on praying and looking for the answers to come.... after all we are children of God and he loves us just the way we are..... broken, lost, wandering, or scarred..... and he refuses to leave us that way! God Bless you.
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