If we were, to be honest with ourselves, most of us desire and direct our prayers toward getting out of depression or any other unpleasant circumstance. We want out! And that is totally fair, that we want that.
However…Now that is not a word we like to hear when we are frustrated and swallowed up in the mire of our pain. Nevertheless, if I may still use the word – “however.” What if God desires for us to go through this trial for a season? What if this season is going to be used for a purpose in the future? What if we pray for strength to endure and walk through the pain, rather than wishing and praying the pain away?
It took me a couple of years into my struggle to realize that I could be praying for strength to go through this rather than draining my every last tear and hoping for the pain to go away. I have to admit, this didn’t make the struggle that much easier. But, it did somewhat take my focus off solely the struggle. My focus shifted toward writing down goals, declaring scripture out loud, learning music…anything I could to take my eyes off the problem, and onto the solution.
So, you see the problem may still be there. However….we can shift our focus. I love the way pastor Mark Batterson puts it in his book, Draw the Circle –
“Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them. I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t pray deliverance prayers, but there are times we need to pray prevailing prayers. We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on” Mark Batterson
In the middle of all your pain, what could be your “however”?
