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By Joshua AdamsI used to think answered prayer meant God gave me what I asked for.Now I know better.Some of the greatest mercy God ever showed me came disguised as disappointment.I prayed for doors He closed.I prayed for things to stay that needed to leave.I begged Him to change circumstances He was using to change me.There were times I wondered why God seemed silent when I had prayed until I had nothing left to say.Years later, I can look backward and see what I couldn't see while I was hurting.He heard me.He just loved me too much to give me everything I asked for.We sometimes approach God as though faith means convincing Him to give us the life we already decided we want.Then when it doesn't happen, we wonder whether our faith was strong enough.But look at Jesus in Gethsemane."Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 22:42."Not my will."Those words are easy to say until God's will costs you something you desperately wanted.Paul learned that.He pleaded with the Lord three times for his thorn to depart.God did not remove it.Instead He said:"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9.Paul asked for removal.God gave him sufficient grace.Was Paul's prayer unanswered?Or was God's answer simply different from Paul's request?I have wrestled with that question in my own life.There were things I desperately wanted because I thought they would finally make everything right.I couldn't understand why God would withhold them.But I was praying from inside one moment.God could see beyond it.James warns us:"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss..." James 4:3.That verse humbled me.Because sometimes the problem wasn't that God wasn't listening.Sometimes I wanted God to approve desires He was trying to free me from.Sometimes I wasn't asking for His will.I was asking Him to put His signature underneath mine.There is a difference.Real prayer eventually reaches the place where you can open your hands and say:"Father, I want this.But I want You more."That is where prayer stops being an attempt to control the outcome and becomes surrender to the One who sees what we cannot.Surrender doesn't mean you stop asking boldly.Jesus asked.Paul asked.Scripture tells us to ask.It means your request doesn't become greater than your trust.Sometimes God opens the door.Sometimes He closes it.Sometimes He removes the thorn.Sometimes He says, "My grace is sufficient."Sometimes the path you begged Him for disappears beneath your feet.And sometimes years later you finally understand why.I've lived long enough to thank God for things that once made me question Him.Thank You for the door You wouldn't open.Thank You for what You wouldn't let me keep.Thank You for refusing to become the servant of my plans.Thank You for seeing what I couldn't.Faith is not believing God will always give me what I want.Faith is trusting Him when He doesn't.Jesus did not teach us to pray:"My kingdom come. My will be done."He taught us:"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." Matthew 6:10.Sometimes the holiest answer to prayer is not the answer that makes you shout.Sometimes it breaks your heart today and protects you from something you couldn't see tomorrow.So if you're standing in front of a closed door right now, pray.Ask.Knock.Cry if you need to.But leave enough room in your prayer to say:"Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."Because sometimes God's "no" isn't rejection.Sometimes it's mercy you haven't lived long enough to recognize yet.#ChristianFaith #Prayer #GodsWill #Faith #Jesus