Praying Specifics

When Brock and I first started dating we made a “Prayer List.” Throughout our relationship, when obstacles would occur or desires would arise; we would jot down our requests to God. When new decisions came our way and when opportunities presented themselves; we quickly wrote down our feelings and gave them to God. We would use our list as an outline for prayer but we mostly used it as a reference to look back and see how God was ever present in our lives and in the center of our relationship.

As days went by and we continued to do our daily prayers, we would be reminded of our list. And when a prayer was answered, we would cross it off and write down next to it how God showed us His will. Many of our requests, at the time, seemed far too big for God to really answer in the way that we really wanted. How small our faith seemed to be at times. But over time; emphasis on OVER TIME, all of our prayers were answered. The answer wasn’t always a yes or no. Sometimes it was wait or a change in plans or circumstances that were better than we could have ever dreamt of. God always reminded us that it was His timing but He ultimately cared about our desires.

It brings us joy to this day, to pull out our “Prayer List” and see all the ways God brought us confirmation, answers, direction, peace, and most of all, His blessings. We often look back at our list and laugh at some of our requests. “Dear God, we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together living for You. Please show us Your will and bring us confirmation that we are each other’s soul mate. Have our parents support us and give us their blessings.” It was crossed off with a little note of dates each of our parents gave us their blessings and where it happened. And, well, you know the rest… we said “I Do.” “Lord, Brock has the desire to play football, show us Your will in where You want him to be.” Crossed off too! We are in Italy playing football. We weren’t answered right away. And our request brought us through a winding journey. We also wrote a prayer request that God would allows us to travel before we had children. What a big and unexpected cross off! Our small desire was answered far more quickly than we had expected and in such a big and magnified way. How great is our God.

I challenge you to pray specifics and write them down. You will always be surprised and amazed about how intimately our God knows your heart and loves answering your prayers. We are humbled every time we refer to our list. We are reminded of how in control God is in our lives and how the only place for Him to be is in the center of our relationship. When times are tough and when God tells us to “wait,” we look back at our list, at all of our ‘cross offs’, and we wait in peace, knowing God has always given us an answer. And from experience, typing to you from Milan, Italy of all places, His answers are always better than what we expect.