Prayer is not something that I and my fellow Christians corner the market on. People of many faiths pray for many reasons. Some pray for health, theirs and for that of others. Some pray for a good harvest, Landing a good job, and well you get the gist. When those things that we pray for, turn out the way we wanted and prayed for everything is great. But what about those times when the things we pray for, don't go as we prayed for then what? Well, some of us get angry, some are saddened, some vow to never pray again. Some get angry at the God or Goddess or what ever higher power they might pray to with feelings of betrayal.
How bout we look at it this way, what if our No answer was someone elses Yes answer? Say you were in a household where your wife held a great paying job,but you just made the bills with only a little extra. So you pray that you get the job that you interviewed for along with a couple other folks. You didn't get the job, and you get angry that your prayer wasn't answered. But what if you knew why.. The person who did get the job was a single mother whose husband walked out on her leaving her with all the bills. She is now left with an 8 year old and a 12 year old to care for with no job. She prays that she gets the job she interviewed for along with a couple other folks, and one was you... Both you and the woman prayed to your respective higher powers, one answer was yes and the other was no.
How about your friends little girl who was born with some congenital birth defects that don't really show up until she is about 8 years old. She has already had 4 surgeries to repair different issues. You and many other people turn to prayer for her health and recovery, yet she dies on the operating room table during her 5th surgery unable to be revived. Again you get angry at your higher power and ask why? But you don't know that, that child could have had 20 more surgeries and would not have lived to adulthood and would have been in severe pain more than not. You also do not know that her parents had mounting bills that were closing in on five hundred thousand dollars, nor the fact that the emotional strain on both parents is destroying their marriage. What if the answer to your prayer was actually Yes? It was yes because that little is healthy again in Gods kingdom, she no longer is suffering,needs no further surgery. The parents though suffer the loss of their child, help comes in for help with their bills, they receive grief counciling that also aids in their marriage.
Sometimes God does say No to our prayers, but doesn't tell us the reason....maybe before we get angry and turn away from God, maybe we need to think of why He may have said No...Because He said yes to someone else on your behalf.....
