God, Why Do You Sometimes Take so Long to Answer?

Yep.  It’s done.  God is now my friend.

These are the first words spoken by friend Julie’s mom right after I ended my phone call with her yesterday.  Julie and her mom called me from Palm Desert after having several intimate talks about knowing God. Julie’s mom had one question for me–how can I make sure that God knows I want to be his friend? 

This conversations was nothing short of miraculous–Julie has been praying for her mom’s salvation for the past 10 years.  This morning Julie admitted to me that there have been seasons of praying where she felt like giving up, discouraged by the seeming impossibility of her mom even being the tiniest bit interested in knowing Christ. Days when she felt like throwing her hands in the air and giving up all hope. Days when she felt tempted to stop praying.

But she didn’t.

I can relate.

Yesterday our family experienced the same kind of miracle Julie did.  The phone at our house rang about 6pm last night.  I could hear my husband’s end of the conversation and knew he must be talking to his mother.  Well Mom, if someone knocked on your door you could do one of three things. You could ignore the knock.  You could tell the person to go away.  Or you could open the door and invite him in. All you have to do is tell Jesus you want him to come into your life and forgive you of your sins.

JP has prayed for his mom for since 1972.

In case you’re like me and aren’t too great at math, that’s 39 years.

Thirty

nine

years.

That’s a long time to pray by anyone’s standards. For the past several years we’ve made it our habit to lay in the quiet dark of our bedroom and pray for our each of our kids, my parents and JP’s mom all by name.  Our prayer for JP’s mom is always the same. Lord, help her cry out to you to be saved.

Honestly, I have often wondered if we should just stop praying.

There were moments that seemed so hopeless–like the day she told JP to stop talking about God in front of her. 

So he did.

With his mouth.  But not with his actions. 

He kept loving.  He kept serving.  He kept praying. 

Do you have something you have been praying for weeks? Months? Years?  Something that seems impossible?  Something you have prayed for so long and so hard that you feel tempted to just give up?

Don’t.

The answer may be just around the corner. 

Or the answer may be still years in the making.

Either way our responsibility is to keep praying and not lose heart. God is at work in your life and in the lives of those you love.  Believe it.  Pray for it.  Don’t give up.

Then wait.

Lord Jesus,

I don’t always know why sometimes my prayers take years to be answered, but You do.  You are the sovereign God of the universe.  My job is to place all my cares and concerns into your loving hands.  Your job is to take care of all I place there.  Thank you that you hear every prayer, every cry of my heart, though sometimes I grow weary.  Help me to pray and not lose heart. Thank you for working behind the scenes, in places I cannot see. I trust you to do the right thing at the right time in the right way.  Amen.

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD  in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:13-14)