What are you praying for this year?

With every New Year comes a wish list – what does yours look like?

Last year I had a long, long list! Top on the list was the end of the pandemic – I was so tired of it! Next were the usual prayer items – good health, provision, the children, work, etc. plus a couple of other ‘classified’ prayers. Anyway – last year turned out to be something else. Amid all the drama, however, God answered other prayers that I made in the course of the year. This got me thinking – how and when does God answer our prayers? Does He listen to my beginning of year list and decide that He needs to make a few changes? Why does He make those changes? Should I bother making a yearly prayer list?

As I pondered on these questions, a few other thoughts came to mind. Perhaps I should try doing things differently this year!

I need to do my part and let Him take care of the rest

What is my part here? Praying, of course, after asking God what His will is for my life and what He wants me to do. In my case, for example, I have a son who is autistic, so I must ask the Lord what He has in store for him this year. Also, I need to do my research and find out what my son needs so I can have a plan of action that I can present before the Lord and ask for His guidance and approval. This sounds like a long process, right? Well, that’s not all – after that, I need to leave everything in the Lord’s hands. I need to let Him take charge and work things out in His perfect time.

This is not an easy process. Planning and preparing stuff and then giving it all to God to execute and sometimes change or reject needs lots of patience. I have however learnt over the years that leaving things in God’s hands relieves me of lots of worry and stress – and spares me the pain of numerous blunders!

I need to trust Him

“Lord, I need Ksh 40,000 for school fees by January 4^th.” Have you ever prayed such a prayer two days before a deadline? I have, many times, and guess what – sometimes God doesn’t answer that prayer in time.

Then a few days later, He does.

God answers our prayers according to His timing and plan for us. He does not make mistakes. He is never late. He does not ignore our prayers. He works things out for us with the aim of building our faith in Him.

Work with me here…

Have you ever met someone who has experienced a miracle? What’s the first thing they say? God is faithful! I trusted in Him and though it took long, He answered me! I am in awe of His goodness! Last year a close relative experienced such a miracle and shortly after, when he was finally able to talk on the phone, all he could talk about was God’s goodness and faithfulness. Because of this miracle, his trust in God was renewed and restored.

This experience was not all rosy, by the way. At some point, we were told that this relative was not doing well and chances of survival were not good. Trusting in God at this point was hard, but we held on and prayed, together with many of our friends. When God answered our payers and turned things around, I can tell you that every single person who prayed for our relative was in awe of God’s faithfulness, and their faith was renewed.

That’s what happens when we pray. We learn to trust Him with the results. The results are never guaranteed, but we can be sure that the Lord in whose hands we place our prayers is faithful, because of what we have seen Him do in the past.

This year I intend to pray and trust Him to give me the best answer in His perfect time.

I need to remember that He is in control of everything and that His plan for me is perfect.

People, I hope you know that God will not answer all of our prayers. Some things we desperately need will not work out. Others will work out but differently from what we had in mind. Other answers to our prayers will be total surprises (also known as curveballs).

I don’t think we need to worry, though. You know why? Because God is in control! He created the universe and all that is in it. He controls the sun and the moon. He controls the seasons. He makes it rain in the desert! He heals people who are on their death beds. He provides finances at the eleventh hour. He protects us from unseen dangers. HE IS IN CONTROL!

Disclaimer – I do not always remember this. I pray and when things do not work when I want them to, I dig up my plan B. Guess what – Plan B never works because God only works with Plan A!  Please don’t do what I do; stick with God’s plan and wait patiently for it to come to fruition, regardless of how long it takes. It is the best plan for you and you can be sure He will not disappoint you.

God is in control of everything that He has planned for us.

Let’s read that again.

God is in control of everything that He has planned for us.

Do my part. Pray. Surrender everything to Him and let Him do His part. Trust Him. Remember that He is in control and that His plan for me is perfect.

That’s my prayer for this year.

How about you?