Ever want something so much, where you pray about it & pray about it... "this" will make life so much better, 'this" is so perfect for you right now... You've been good, studying, praying and sharing your faith... But despite all of that, God says "no". You don't get it - This won't interfere with your relationship w\Him, you've been working hard to get "there"... why not?

Here's a small list God's most frequent answers.

I think that we've all experienced a moment in our lives when God has said "no" to our most heartfelt requests. When we are strickened with health issues, or when a loved one passes... Hard times will happen to all, even to God's people, no matter how hard we all pray... because we live in a fallen world. So is praying pointless? Definitely not! We worship a God who loves to answer prayers, despite the loss we feel at times.

I've grown over the past summer where, I can't know what God's Plan is for me. I know that I'm the type of person who, if they even knew a small piece of what God had in store for me (and it was for my enjoyment), i'd do everything I could to "speed things up", only for it to blow up later because it wasn't God's timing.

When we pray, we want answers immediately. But we know that God doesn't work that way. Patience is definitely a trait that any longlasting disciple has learn to cultivate. We need patience because sometimes, God answers those prayers right at the very last second.

How often does something happen where we weren't expecting it? And not in a great way - job loss, relocation, divorce, ... We think "Why Lord?!?!" only, in time, to realize God's plan? The job loss opened up our time to rely more upon Him, recalibrating our faith. Relocation put us in a place where we were truly needed to glorify Him. Your divorce was necessary because both of you had lost your true focus - God.

This one's a bit obvious, but what do you think God will say when you ask Him for things that will draw you closer to Him. Stronger faith, patience, the endurance to continue fighting a recurring sin. What about when you stop trying to resolve a situation yourself, and just give it to God?

Prayer is the most important thing we an do as disciples. It takes the worry & mess out of our problem (even tho we may not think so), but we also need to be ready for His response. In the end, He won't do us wrong. He knows all and knows what's best for us - we just need to have faith in that.