Persevering In Prayer

Do you ever get discouraged by waiting? I know I do. Prayer is one of the ultimate forms of waiting and when you pray for something over a long period of time, it can get discouraging to keep going. It's hard to keep asking for things when you see no progress. Can anyone relate?

We have been praying for a missing missionary for years. I think we might be at almost five, or maybe six, years. We don't know any details and we don't have a good way to find out information. About the same time that we started praying for him, we were praying for a pastor who was imprisoned in the Middle East. We prayed for his release for three years before it finally happened.

There were times when I wondered why we kept praying. Nothing was happening. But the answer to the prayer for the pastor's release strengthened me and encouraged me to keep going in prayer for the missionary.

We have a friend who needed a heart transplant and we had been praying for her for six years. The fact that she was still alive and the heart pump was still working was a miracle in and of itself but why was she not getting the transplant?! Finally, after six years (that we were praying, it had been longer), she got the transplant.

I hold onto these stories for encouragement. Despite having lived them, I can still get discouraged and wonder why I should keep praying for something that I'm seeing no visible progress towards getting an answer. But these situations show me that answers are not always quick in coming. I think part of my problem is that I tend to pray for a lot of short-term healing and situations, so I am not as well equipped for the long-haul prayers.

I hope you are encouraged to persevere in whatever long-term prayers you've been praying. If you've experienced an answer to prayer after a long time and are able, please share with us! We'd love to rejoice with you and be encouraged by what God has done too!