Waiting in Prayer

Anna is one of the most beautiful and mysterious figures of the Gospels about whom I always wish I knew more. She was a prophetess who lived in the temple for almost her entire life after she became a widow at a young age, there is even some tradition that suggests she taught Mary as a child (source).

What a life to imagine: living within the temple, never leaving, fasting and praying for what was probably over sixty years. Did she know in her heart that she would see the Savior in her lifetime? Did she spend all those years hidden in the temple waiting?

Waiting is something we have all experienced, maybe to get married, move on to a dream job, waiting for a child to return to the Faith. Waiting clearly shows us we are not in control. We cannot speed up how God answers our prayers; we cannot change aspects of our life circumstances or the actions of other people; we can’t make the man of our dreams appear as scheduled in our calendars.

Waiting on the Lord to work in our lives also does not carry a guarantee. We aren’t guaranteed answers to our prayers in ways that are clear to us. We may be waiting our entire earthly lives to see the result of what we prayed for; we may need to meet God face to face to see and understand His plans that we could not make sense of in the waiting.

But sometimes our prayers are answered. And, just like Anna, we can be faithful in waiting through continued prayer despite not knowing what the result may be. We can also praise God when our prayers are answered, to tell of Jesus Who has acted and worked in our lives just as Anna shared to everyone after she saw the Christ Child, God’s Son sent to earth.

Praise God. // Christy IsingerClick to tweet

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