How to Stop Praying for Ice Cream

Do you find yourself repeatedly praying for wisdom, patience, understanding in difficult circumstances or for the Lord to solve a lingering problem (or 2 or 8)?  

We often think of God’s plan as being “pretty”, “neat”, packaged and wrapped with a cute bow.  Because when we map out our own life’s plan we make it “pretty” and “neat” planning around, all foreseeable bumps in the road.  

Remember when you graduated high school? How did you picture your life turning out? Did you map out all of the classes you needed in college and the steps you needed to take in order to fulfill your career or family dreams? 

We make our life plans “pretty” and “neat” but they’re flawed.  So we assume if God’s plan is perfect then those pesky bumps must be understandable and easy to navigate or we’re somehow not in God’s will.

Feeling as if you’re living “in the waiting” and this life you’ve found yourself in the middle of - should make sense or At Least Be Easier!!!  These feelings, this frustration with life can leave us feeling so overwhelmed

Good thing for us that God’s ways are higher than our ways, just because we’re confused doesn’t mean that God is.

I wonder if praying for God’s divine cruise-control navigation through difficult circumstances is like a child praying for Ice cream for every meal.  Even though ice cream is a food, it won’t give you the nutrition you need to grow from as a meal.  Just like in life you don’t grow when things are easy.

Often when we are in a period of confusion or heartache we wonder if we are outside of God’s will and sometimes when these periods of trial linger we wonder, “Lord, have you forgotten about me? Are you mad at me? Have I messed up?” 

When pain or confusion lingers and you feel like your prayers aren’t getting past the ceiling, it’s scary.

But let’s consider Joseph.  I wonder if those same questions went through his mind when his brothers planned to kill him but settled on selling him to slave traders.  I wonder how he felt when his God honoring ways landed him in Jail years later.  I wonder where he would have been without the pain.  His pain and difficult circumstances wove his life into being the one man who was able to rescue the descendants of Abraham and all of Egypt from the great famine.  He had a key role in God’s long term rescue plan, and I do not think that Joseph would have considered his journey “Neat”, “pretty” and it was certainly wasn’t wrapped with a cute bow!  It was messy.

What about Hannah, heartbroken and without child. Without her overwhelming heartache do you think she would have been at the temple that day crying out to the Lord and promising her unborn, unconceived child to Him?  Her heartache conceived a child who grew up to become the high priest Samuel that anointed King David.

So maybe we should stop praying for ice cream and maybe we should learn to accept the waiting, painful periods and let our hearts say,

“Lord if this pain is from you, I pray that I will allow it to do what it’s intended to do in my life. I pray that this pain will mold me into Your image, mold my heart, make it like yours. Because Lord, through this, though I’m hurting I KNOW You’re with me, and though I don’t understand, I know that you will never leave me nor forsake me.  Increase my Faith Lord!”

About Melissa

Melissa Bradley is married with two small children.  She serves at a church plant in Hendersonville, NC. The passion of her heart is to live every day missionally. You can also find Melissa at Beautiful Mommy Feet, she and her husbands personal ministry page, a women’s ministry page -Radiance and on Facebook.

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