What Do You Pray For?

If you and I were chatting over coffee, and I asked you if you would rather have peace or risk...what would you say? How about if I asked you if you would rather have comfort or courage? Makes you think at first. It's definitely not an easy decision...at least it never was for me.

Most of my life I have grown up in this confined little bubble, a bubble that I like to call my comfort zone. I'm a person who does not like change and I never have seen myself as a risk taker. Taking risks and stepping out of my comfort zone has always terrified me. The NOT knowing is what held me back 99% of the time. I'm super OCD when it comes to planning, scheduling, and "perfecting" everything. Instead of figuring out or asking for help on how to overcome change or things that made me feel uneasy...

I would ask for things to be easier. I would pray to God to make my situation or whatever I was going through or experiencing...to be easier...so I could "handle" it better. So I wouldn't have to grow and learn from it. So I could just sit back and continue to have my world feel safe, comfortable, and peaceful. But the truth is...God doesn't make things easier for us. He doesn't want to make things easier for us. And to be honest, He shouldn't have to.

Did we make things easier for Jesus? Yep. Just let that sink in. But God doesn't make things easier for us out of revenge. God doesn't make things easier for us because He wants us to learn and grow. If you are negative about everything day in and day out...how can you expect to grow and change? You can't until you CHANGE your mindset. And that's exactly what God wants us to do.

There's no right or wrong way to pray, but I do believe that when our prayers align with God's Will...something GREAT will happen.

Since growing and changing in my relationship with God, I don't find myself asking Him to make my situations easier anymore. I ask Him to help GUIDE me through this season of difficulty and to GIVE me the STRENGTH I need to OVERCOME it. Not to lessen it or stop it...but for me to go through it, experience it, but come out STRONGER because of it...as well as learn and grow from it. He wants us to grow in Faith with Him....

God wants us to talk about others to Him and talk about Him to others.

Pray for someone who may need the strength or courage to overcome what they are going through...or maybe that someone is you. If you are going through a difficult time right now, don't ask God to make it easier...ask Him to continue guiding you through it, to give you the strength and power to overcome it, and to learn and grow from it <3

-Becky