Prayer is associated with hope - hope that our desires will be fulfilled. We "hope and pray" for so many things in the course of a lifetime.
Many of the things I have "hoped and prayed" for have come to pass, but not all. Why? Why are our all prayers not answered the way we would like?
Richard Foster provides an interesting twist to this question when he suggests we thank God for prayers not answered. Why?
"Many times in our shortsightedness we ask for things that would do us in...
In such cases, ... it is God's grace and mercy that prevent our prayers from being answered. God withholds his gifts from us for our good... So we must thank God that many of our prayers go unanswered. C.S. Lewis writes, "If God had granted all the silly requests I've made in my life, where should I be now?"*
That is a question many of us might ask ourselves!
* Quote from Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, p. 182
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