Lent day 2

For a while I’ve struggled with my prayer life.

I’ve always felt that I needed to pray more, but have found it hard to know what to pray or how to pray.

I felt that I would say the wrong thing, or pray for the wrong thing and then God wouldn’t listen to me and the whole thing would be pointless.

So, for a long time I’ve been paralyzed about prayer and therefore haven’t prayed at all.

I knew that this was also not good, so I’d feel guilty about it and it becomes a downward spiral.

In a series on prayer my pastor was talking about how we can’t pray anything that God doesn’t already know.

God knows what we need and even if we pray for the wrong thing or in the “wrong” way, He is there and He is listening.

Just as when one of my kids asks me for something, I long to be able to give them anything they ask for.

Not that I’ll get everything I ask for in prayer. God knows the things that I need and the things that I want.

As in the example of my kids, I know what they need and I know what they want.

Just because they ask for a toy or ice cream or something else doesn’t mean they are going to get it.

But I, as their father, look at the things they need and want and give them the things that I deem to be in their best interest.

So, God, in His infinite wisdom will give us the things that we pray about that He deems in our best interest.