Always pray and never give up

A pull quote by DaySpring contributing writer Aliza Olson that reads,

My longest running prayer request—sometimes whispered with bated breath—was to someday be married. All throughout my twenties, I asked God for a good, kind, godly man as a life companion. There were days when my faith felt strong and unflappable, but also days where I wondered if God actually cared about this desire in my heart. 

Each day, I earnestly prayed this deep longing, begging God to change my circumstances. But the more time passed, the more discouraged I became. Why hadn’t I seen anything shift in my life? Was there even a point to praying about it anymore? 

I wrote requests in my journal, I went on long walks at sunset—sometimes crying out, sometimes feeling nothing at all. 

But I never stopped praying. 

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I often thought about the story Jesus told in the Gospel of Luke.  

Jesus’ disciples must have felt like giving up on prayer at one time or another, because He told them a story specifically to encourage them to keep praying and not lose heart. 

There was a widow in a small town who wanted justice. She went to the town’s judge again and again, asking for him to grant her what she wanted. Now, this judge didn’t care about God or people, but eventually he got so fed up by her pestering that he relented and gave her the justice she had continually asked for! 

If the unjust judge—whose only motive was to get her to stop bothering him—gave the widow what she asked for, how much more does our loving Father care about us and what we bring to Him? Jesus told His disciples: “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:7 NIV)  

I think of this story whenever I’m discouraged about praying for the same thing, especially when it feels like I’m not seeing my circumstances change. The persistent widow makes me smile, and she reminds me to not give up.

Prayer isn’t about coercing God into giving us the thing we want.  

God doesn’t owe us anything, and we don’t have a deal where if we pray enough days in a row, He’ll finally relent and give in. Instead, prayer is a beautiful invitation to bring everything on our hearts before God, the way a daughter would curl up on her father’s lap and tell him all the things she longs for. Prayer is a tangible way to yield our lives to Jesus—sometimes yielding the exact same request over and over and over again. 

Last summer, this long-held prayer of my heart was realized on my wedding day, as I stood face-to-face with the man who was officially my husband. And now, each morning, I wake up… and instead of praying and asking God to give me a husband, I pray and thank God for the husband I now have. I never want to forget—even on the hard days—that I am currently living inside an answered prayer I had once desperately longed for.

But what if you’re still living in the in-between?  

The truth is, even when we step into a season of answered prayer, there are always still more prayers that have yet to be answered. There are always new seasons of waiting, of wondering “when” or even “if.” 

Prayer is an invitation to trust that no matter what we are facing or asking from God, even in the long wait for our answer, He is trustworthy, kind, generous, and good. 

Always pray and never give up.