Prayer: A Shelter to the Soul
©2025 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Ben White from Unsplash
I do have the faith to be healed.
How does God weigh our prayers
if the outcome is sealed?
Are we asking amiss to
petition our bliss when
the Lord’s will has not been revealed?
Prayers are sometimes denied.
Should we put wants aside,
presupposing our will holds no sway?
In trusting God’s plan,
must we yield, understanding
our own cannot carry the day?
Or might fervent petition
bring pleas to fruition
when blessings we want go ungranted?
Is pride at the fore?
When we beg or implore,
are we hoping His will is supplanted?
These thoughts fill my mind
as I struggle to find
how to humbly seek longed-for rewards.
Prayer is more than request;
it’s a sacred process
of aligning our will with the Lord’s.
Our God never tires nor
rebukes our desires for
the good gifts He promises all.
Honest pleas from the soul
are not bids for control;
they are simply a child’s desperate call.
Once the dialogue starts,
God inhabits our hearts;
our desires by His own are refined.
Praying sheds divine light
on earth-limited sight,
until our will and God’s are aligned.
As we sue for relief,
exercising belief,
the Spirit knows how to proceed.
Faithful souls weather through,
sheltered by the Lord’s view:
Not what we want – what we need.
∞∞∞
“Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant” (Bible Dictionary). By exercising our faith through prayer, we come to know what those “blessings God is already willing to grant” might be. Petitioning Him is an integral part of the process, as is coming to an acceptance of His plan for us, knowing it will bring more joy in the eternities than any plan of our own ever could.
If this poem resonated with you, you might also relate to In Every Thing, Give Thanks; Devotional; and He Prayed: We Pray. Other related poems are pictured with titles below, or you can return to the home page and click on a category that applies.
Tags: adversity, Christ, discipleship, God, overcoming, prayer, trials
