Prayer Changes Us

There’s a story about a boy who was acting up and was sent to his room for a little time out. When his mother finally went in to talk to him, the child said, “Momma, I’ve been thinking about what I did, and I said a prayer.” “That’s fine,” she responded, “If you ask God to make you good, God will help you. “Oh, I didn’t ask God to make me good. I asked God to help you put up with me!”

Although the boy prayed for the mother to have patience, I hope God also gave the boy a little more compassion for his poor mom. I do believe that prayer changes things, but, I also believe that prayer changes us.

Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive…” We just have to remember that God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly how and when we’d like.

Let us pray: God of Grace, we thank you for all the answered prayers over the years. We even thank you for many unanswered prayers – desires we once had that we now realize were foolish or harmful. We thank you for blessing upon blessing. But we also confess that there have been times when we have prayed in all faith and integrity, and we do not understand why these prayers went unanswered. We’re human. We’re flesh and blood, and we struggle with this. Meet us again today in our need, give us your peace. We trust that you are good and that you have our best interest at heart. And we pray with Jesus, not my will, but thy will be done. Amen.