God Answers Exactly When We Need

We often are convinced that if we can just get this one thing that we desire above all else - a promotion, healing from a chronic illness, a good relationship with our child - then that one thing will be the key to solving all that is wrong in our life and with the world and everything else will magically and instantaneously fix itself. And though we pray and fast and plead and weep and sweat and bleed for that one desire to become a reality, though our desire be righteous and our heart sincere and our faith unshakeable, yet still the Lord in His infinite wisdom does not immediately bless us with our heart’s desire. The reasons that He withholds this blessing from us may be unknowable and perhaps unimaginable, but we cannot suppose it is because He is uninterested in our happiness or that He loves us less than He ought. I believe that sometimes the Lord requires us to wait because He wants us to discover that we are capable of improving our lives and finding happiness even in the prolonged and continued deferral of that which we desire above all else. I believe that He is inviting us to broaden our views and deepen our understanding and reexamine our belief that our life will not be complete and can not even really begin until we are granted this one desire. God knows that if He gave us exactly what we asked for today that tomorrow we would wake up to find that not all of our problems have been solved and life is bliss and serenity and smooth sailing from here on out. From day to day and year to year, our lives are never going to play out the way we hoped and planned and feared. God grants us the time to discover that in our patience we can find joy and beauty and strength and that we can go ahead and live our lives as best we can with the hope that as a loving Heavenly Father, God hears and answers our prayers at exactly the moment we need it the most.