Trusting God When the Answers Take Time
I pray. You pray. We all pray.
But lately I’ve realized that my attitude toward prayer often carries an invisible stopwatch. I ask for healing, provision, or a loved one’s conversion—and deep down I’m already counting the hours. If the answer doesn’t come quickly, I move on to my own backup plan. Lord, heal me… and if I’m not better in a day, I’m searching for another remedy. We pray for financial relief and, when nothing changes overnight, panic sets in: selling belongings, borrowing at high rates, lying awake wondering who might lend us a hand.
Letting God Be God
Sometimes I treat prayer as a transaction rather than a relationship. I expect instant results as if God were obliged to meet my timeline. Yet Scripture reminds us: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). God’s timing isn’t slow—it’s perfect. The waiting isn’t wasted; it’s where trust grows.
Blessings We Don’t Recognize
We often label sickness as the work of the enemy and wealth as the highest blessing. But what if God allows illness to protect us from something worse, or withholds riches to keep our hearts from poison? Wealth without charity can corrode the soul. Would a loving Father give a gift that leads His child away from Him? Perhaps the very circumstances we resist are the blessings that move us closer to His eternal will.
Separating My Will from His
I’m learning to pray not just for solutions but for alignment. My own will, even when well-intentioned, so often ends in restlessness. God’s will, though mysterious, brings peace. My new prayer is simple: “Remove my doubt, Lord. Teach me to live completely dependent on Your goodness. Help me see every situation as a step toward Your eternal plan.”
Loved More Than We Can Imagine
This surrender isn’t self-disparagement. St. Thérèse of Lisieux once said that if a child came confessing how bad they were, a loving parent would point out the goodness still shining within. Would not our Father in heaven do the same? Jesus loves me more than I love myself—a truth both baffling and liberating.
Choosing Trust Over Control
Trust and faith need not be complicated. If we truly place our lives in Jesus’ hands, we would be far more at peace. But pride resists humility. We claim to be self-reliant while barely seeing beyond the grass beneath our feet. My prayer today is for humility:
“Lord, let me be a reflection of Your will. Let people see me and see You.”
A Simple Practice
Next time you pray, add a line of surrender:
“Lord, I place this request before You.
I trust Your timing and Your method.
Keep my heart faithful while I wait.”
It’s a small sentence with eternal impact—a way to silence the stopwatch and open the heart to God’s perfect, loving pace.
The musings of Peter 