God's Mysterious Answers to Prayer

"Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."  (Mark 14:36)

Vaneetha's thoughts: "Should we pray for healing and deliverance, believing that we just need to ask because God can do anything? Or should we relinquish our desires to God, trusting that even in our anguish he has the perfect plan for us? When life falls apart, God invites us to do both. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus faced unimaginable suffering. Sweating drops of blood, he fell to the ground and prayed: 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'  Jesus, in his agony, is teaching us by example how to pray when we're desperate.  Jesus relinquishes his will to God's. When denied his desire, Jesus accepts the decision completely.

The Father said no to the Son. And that 'no' brought about the greatest good in all of history. God is not capricious. If he says no to our requests, he has a reason - perhaps ten thousand. We may never know the reasons in this life, but one day we'll see them. For now, we must trust that his refusals are always his mercies to us."

Candy's thoughts: I wonder how many times in my life a 'no' from God resulted in something far better than I could have asked for or imagined?  Perhaps this is the beauty of journaling - keeping a record of prayer requests and then remembering to follow up with an update and a reflection on God's better answer to our entreaties. If only I could constantly remind myself that "his refusals are always his mercies to us." Such a profound thought and encouragement to us in the midst of tragedy and despair.