“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:6).
Sometimes it can be exhausting to pray for an intention that seems as though it will be impossible to receive. After all, some things take a lifetime to be granted, and others never seem to be granted at all – instead, we see the thing slip away before our eyes and think to ourselves that all hope is lost.
This has happened to me in my life. After my little baby died before he was even born, I asked God to send me another child. And I asked for this in a way that I have never asked for a thing in my life before, and in a way that I suspect I shall never ask for a thing again.
And I never had another child. And I never will.
And that is a fact. Even despite all the prayers and tears and heartache, that is simply the way that it will be.
And while I am grateful for the three healthy children God has given to me, there is a part of my heart that will always cry for the children I might have had. And I say this, knowing that I am incredibly blessed, having received children from God, where other far more deserving people have not been given this gift, but the fact remains that this is the feeling in my heart.
And I have been thinking about this today as I have been thinking about the answer to that prayer…
You see, God – in the form of Christ – promised that EVERYONE would have their prayers answered…
“And He said to them, ‘Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!’” (Luke 11:5-13).
And this makes me wonder about what it means when Christ said that everyone’s prayers would be answered… You see, God does not lie. So that extreme sort of statement must mean something… And it occurs to me today that it is not that my prayers were not answered, it is just that they were answered in the manner that provided me with the best possible outcome. It is as though I asked for a stone, when God wanted to give me bread. And being a loving Father, He would not allow me to receive the stone when what I really needed was the bread.
And it occurs to me today that perhaps, through that grief in my heart, I am able to be a spiritual mother to souls to whom I would never have been able to connect. And perhaps this is the bread that God wanted to send to me all along…?
For God answers EVERYONE’S prayers… Even mine…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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