Well I’m glad you are still reading and the title did not make you turn away. I know it sounds like an oxymoron…but let me explain.
I have a friend, Sandra(name was changed), and to be honest Sandra has had a hard life that has
what are we supposed to be praying for
caused her to develop multiple personalities. Around me she seems like the sweetest most loving person. But to others she is cold, mean, and hard core (or tries to be). Sandra’s life has taken her to some ugly places…places you usually only see in movies. At a young age she got involved in sex, was a runaway and eventually was introduced to drugs.
Then one day…everything changed. She got up and walked away from the sex and the drugs, went to church and back to school. For 4 years she was doing well…Then one day…it all changed AGAIN.
Now Sandra has lost her job, is a habitual drug abuser again, prostituting herself with multiple men and women, has her drivers license revoked, lying to the authorities and has 13 charges again her (several of those criminal). Her family has washed their hands of her because she has used and abused them. In court a few days ago a judge said ‘I don’t understand why you are not locked away’. Watching her life right now is like watching a plane crash. No joke…I remember watching the planes crash into the Towers on Sept 11th and remember feeling helpless as I watched…that’s what this is like.
I’ve tried to help, I’ve prayed, I’ve cried. As her pastor I’ve counseled her with the Word. At times I was loving, blunt, and everything in between. I’ve taken the Horse to the water and said “with this water you will never thirst”. She told me flat…I don’t want to drink.
Hearing that a judge said…’I don’t understand why you are not locked away yet’ rang like a bell to me. Maybe all the prayers for her deliverance were going unanswered. We all wanted to see her situation get better. We never want IT to get worse…but sometimes IT has to get worse for God to reach them.
God says..’My ways are not your ways’. And so maybe my prayer was wrong…its not a prayer of deliverance…but a prayer for HIS will to be done. Even if His will lands her in jail, even if His will leaves her paralyzed, even if His will leaves her battered and bruised or even dead.
In our lives we need to pray for His will to be done. That does not mean we can’t ask for our desires, but it does mean when we ask, we have to acknowledge that we only want what lines up with His will.
