Have you ever prayed for something for a very long time and sometimes wonder if God was hearing you?

I know I have.

I have a few prayer requests that I have been praying about for a long time. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn’t answer these prayers. One prayer request concerns my church and my family. I have prayed and prayed , for many years now, and it seems as if there is ultimate silence on the other end of my prayer.

Just yesterday, though, He encouraged my faith through something totally unrelated to this particular prayer.

I pray about everything. The big stuff, the small stuff, even the extra small stuff. There isn’t anything that I don’t take to Him in prayer. If I find myself worrying about something throughout the day, I’ll all of the sudden stop and check myself. I’ll say, “Hey, stop that. Take this to Him in prayer.” Sometimes I’ll pray right there, and other times, I make a mental note for the next morning when I will be with Him to talk to Him about it at length.

I even pray about my blogging. I have a good friend that recently sent me a private message (don’t you love those?!) She shared with me that sometimes when she writes she feels “forlorn” because it seems that no one is listening.

It is true. Perhaps for most of us at times. We write something and then there is silence. No comments. But we continue to write, wondering if anyone is listening.

I have a tendency to second-guess myself a lot. I am basically a very quiet person so I rarely say something in “real life” that I regret. Things just don’t slip out of my mouth very easily. I tend to screen everything I say in my mind before actually saying it.

On the other hand, when I write, I’m a real chatty Cathy. My fingers just slip and slide all over the place. Many times I have sent an email to a friend and then totally regretted what I wrote. I’ve sent letters that I second-guessed myself for years! “I shouldn’t have said that,” or “She is mad at me because of what I wrote and that’s why they don’t write me back,” or “That was so stupid what I wrote, that’s why she never writes back.”

I have done this in blogging, too. I write things that later I wonder if I should have done that. “Was that stupid?” “Did that sound like bragging?” “Did I offend someone?”

I have often felt literally handicapped in the world of the spoken language. Just as some people have physical handicaps that you can see with your eyes, I have often viewed my inability to speak easily as much a handicap. It is something I have prayed a lot about over the years and He has helped me significantly. Sometime I will write about the miracle that happened when I first became able to speak to people, as a mute would open his mouth to speak his first words.

But writing, that’s a different story. In school, although I would struggle at every other subject, if I was given a writing assignment, I would always come away with an excellent grade. I just loved to write. Words flow from my fingers as easily as for some it flows from their tongue.

Since I love to write, I love to blog. I like communicating with people in this way. But sometimes I second guess myself. So, I pray about it. I pray that He will give me encouragement.

How cool when God answers prayer. I had prayed that most recently (among many other times) and as He has done in the past, He sent quickly that encouragement I had asked for. I turned on my computer, signed in, and there were two private messages. One was from a good friend. The other pm was from a young girl I had never met before. She had a horse question for me. I love to talk horse talk, so that was so fun!

Then, I noticed I had FIVE new friends! GingerforJesus, Keri, MamaLama, SammyJo, and Spearce. How cool is that!!!! Five people chose me to be their friend! I was so excited! My two private messages and five new friends all in one morning. The next day, a young girl sent me a private message asking me if I would be her friend. I was so happy that I could have floated!

Then I got to thinking. If God would so much care about something like blogging, and answer this prayer so encouraging and significantly, how much more does God care about the big things in my life?

If He would care about my blogging, which doesn’t really change much in my day-to-day life, how much more does God care about my real-life problems? Then I began to think about my prayer request for my church and my family. My faith was encouraged. God does hear. God will answer. God does care. His answer will come in His way, and in His timing. And meanwhile, I can rest assured, that God loves me and wants the very best for me. Even in my blogging.