But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. Psalm 59:16
Sometimes the answers to the prayers we seek have unexpected outcomes. Yet, God knows what He is doing and what needs to be done in each of our lives. Here is a revised prayer by Annie Johnson Flint, a Christian poet of the 19th and 20th centuries. While suffering through crippling arthritis, she prays the following prayer, well worth remembering and even memorizing.
I prayed for strength and then lost for a while all sense of nearness, human and divine. The love leaned on failed and pierced my heart; the hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine. But while I swayed weak, trembling, and alone, God’s everlasting arms upheld my own. I prayed for light, and then the sun went down in the clouds. The moon was darkened by misty doubt, earthly fears dimmed the stars of heaven, and all my candle flames burned out.
While I sat in the shadow, wrapped in the night, the face of Christ appeared and made all the darkness bright. I prayed for peace and dreamed of restful ease, a slumber drugged from pain, a calm repose. But above my head, the skies blackened with a storm, and fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes. Then, as the battle raged and the wild winds blew, I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew. I thank you, Lord; you were too wise to heed my feeble prayers and answer as I sought since these rich gifts your bounty has bestowed have brought more than I ask or thought. Giver of the good, so answer each request with your own giving, better than my best.
Psalm 34:17-19 The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers all of them.