Always-Prayed, Never-Answered Prayers

I guess most of us have something we pray for, night and day, week in and week out, month after month, and so on. It’s often something we continue to pray about even though the answer never seems to appear. I know God answers in his own time, and that his timing is for our greater good. In that case, why do I drive myself nuts praying over and over for something that obviously is not ready to happen just yet?

I don’t think of these prayers as “impossible dreams.” They are more like “eternal hopes.” I know they may take time to be answered, but praying often about them sort of keeps my hope alive. I could (maybe) just pray one more time and turn it over to God and forget about it until it works out one way or another. But I cannot help keeping the prayer before me, always seeing that ray of hope, always knowing that one day, the answer will come.

There’s also the possibility that by praying often, I can continue to work on the solution. Isn’t there that saying about God helping those who help themselves? So, it’s not really “never-answered” prayer that I am talking about, but rather “not-yet-answered-prayer.”

Dear God, please help me to help you by listening for your guidance.