Bill Hybels tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: "I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, 'No, I'm struggling.'
She said, 'My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I'm crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, "Who needs this? God isn't listening." At the 10-year mark I said, "Why am I wasting my breath?" At the 15-year mark I said, "This is absurd." At the 19-year mark I said, "I'm just a fool." But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith
I kept praying. Then she gave here life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again."
Sometimes when we pray and pray, we feel like we are experiencing the law of diminished returns -- so we stop praying. We correspondingly diminish our desires and dreams. We stop believing that God cares and that He will act -- that He is indeed a God who wants us to ask.
I hope that you will trust God's love and concern for you, and his ability as well. I hope that you will continue to be persistent in prayer, no matter how discouraging it may seem at times. God is listening.
"And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 (ESV)
