Expert: Tom Schott - 6/6/2005

Question
Hi Tom,

I have a question regarding how to pray.  I was always told that in praying for help from God, that I should keep praying and praying until I get an answer.  Long story short, I have been praying for resolution or closure from an old relationship that has caused me a lot of pain and still pains me to think about to this day.  When I'm busy at work or doing other things, I am distracted from the pain.  But when I pray about the situation (I pray every day), it always brings all of the old pain back to the surface.  So my question is this: should I continue praying about the situation because I still need help from God with it, even though praying about it reminds me of the pain... or should I stop praying about it because if I don't pray about it I won't be constantly bringing the pain back to the surface?  I could use any guidance you might be able to provide me on this question.  

Thank you so much, and peace be with you.

Emily

Answer
Emily,

 It's clear to me that you should just stop praying about this if it causes you pain. God will heal this hurt whether you pray about it or not. He doesn't need prayer to know what we need. But His schedule almost never lines up with ours. Just trust that He is going to take care of this and heal this hurt, and then go about your business. If you need something to pray for every day, read stories in the paper and pray for all the hurt and hurting people you will find there. Or pray for our enemies, as the Lord has asked us to. Or pray for all the people who don't know God. The key is to pray for someone else. If you concentrate on praying for other people, you are not going to think about your troubles. Give those to God. He can handle them a lot better than you can.