According to His Will

" And this is the confidence that we have towards Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him." 1 John 5:14-15 (English Standard Version)

Hi everyone, it's been a while since my last post. I have been well which I am thankful for and I pray you and all your family are doing great as well.

I found myself thinking about prayers recently; the importance, frequency and especially what we pray for. I know a lot of people struggle with the verses above especially if a desired outcome to their prayers are not forthcoming. They question if God really hears them, then they begin to question the existence of this God they do not see which then starts them on the journey to losing their faith.

I have never had to question the existence of God and believe me, I have weathered a few storms myself, even from a young age. I started this month of May with the loss of my cat Bella, how I miss her….she was the craziest, tiniest cat I had ever seen. She was only two years, but she was as bold and mad as you can ever imagine. She wasn't the healthiest cat but I never thought of her dying as she had recovered late last year from some serious ailment. You could never keep her out of a room, she would let herself in, the door handle was nothing to hinder her. If it didn’t open on time, she would scratch and meow like she was ready to bring the house down, gosh! I respected her. I still find it difficult saying it out loud that she passed, it's just too hard.

The night she took a bad turn, I remember I got on my knees at a point praying fervently to God to spare her life and spare my kids the heartache of losing her especially with us being stuck indoors. My Mom always told us that a single leaf cannot fall off a branch without God's knowledge and we should pray about anything and everything, so on my knees I got. I knew whatever happened after my prayers to God for Bella that it was going to be ok. She died not long after that.

While she was poorly, I had been chatting with a very close neighbour of mine through text messages on what to do and not to do to get her comfortable as he had a cat as well. It came as a shock when he passed away a week later due to having developed some complications as a result of his ill health. The sadness I felt was quite overwhelming.

I did pray for my neighbour as well and I am confident that God heard me, the outcome might not have been the desired one but I know His Will for us on this earth is a different matter altogether. Accepting God's Will may not necessarily mean immediate peace especially if we are talking about the loss of a loved one. There will be emotional turbulence, there will be the pain of loss, there will be time spent in questioning actions and decisions leading up to that moment in time. However, in all that, you can and should trust that God's got you and every piece will fall in place at the right time, some quicker than others but you will never doubt His comforting presence. 
I experienced all this with the loss of my Mom 14 years ago, I made peace with God about it the moment He was calling her to be with him. That peace did not stop my heart from feeling like it was being ripped apart over and over again as I was confronted with the reality of her passing but it settled in later to help bear the unimaginable loss.

I know God delights in answering our prayers but if we can trust in Him, we will know He has the best plans for us and that means He will do things His own way and in His own time.

I believe this time we are all living through is the best time to lay all at His feet and ask Him to lead and show us the best paths that will take us all to safety and recovery. If it has taught me anything, it is that I can only do things through Christ that strengthens me. We will come out of this and we will be fine, the sun will always rise.

Closing this post, let me encourage you with the verse below:

“‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I shall give peace and prosperity,’ declares the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:9 (English Standard Version)