Monday, September 29, 2014

Unanswered Prayers - #MondayBlogs


“Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”
~ Garth Brooks


How many of your childhood dreams and plans actually came to be? Is your life today very different from the way you imagined it would be? And how many of you are much happier now than you thought you ever would be?
While dating my 7th grade boyfriend I filled my school notebooks with scribbles of “Mrs. Stephen H*****” and “Chelle H*****” – obviously it wasn’t meant to be. Later in my years I did allow my dreams to wander about committing myself to one man; fortunately I was never able to force a “yes” past my lips when he asked and as time went on and I saw his true character I understood my reluctance. In the meanwhile I met my husband and swore I couldn’t stand him! But I did go out with Mark (don’t ask, I thought he was joking when he asked me out!) and by our second date I was in love; we were engaged within two weeks.
At the tender age of young adulthood we KNEW what our plans were and all of the things we were going to do. There is a Yiddish proverb “Man plans and God laughs” – even when you are set on a goal and even know what you want, the forces and influences around you are not necessarily in tune with those expectations. So you adjust and continue forging ahead with (hopefully) no regrets and at some point in your life you look back and realize that while it may not be what you THOUGHT you wanted, you have everything you really need.
Unanswered prayers are indeed the greatest gifts.
Characters in several of my books have found that life’s surprises can lead to wonderful happy ever afters. Sometimes a twist of fate, even though at the time it may seem painful, but when we take everything we’ve been given and make the most of it, our lives often turn out being wonderful. Don’t dwell on the things you think are disappointments.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” ― Charles R. Swindoll

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