Each week during the church service, we recite The Lord’s Prayer together. Evidently, I repeat it weekly and still don’t understand its meaning.
Ten years ago, my husband and I bought a farm. I prayed about it and believed that God would bless us with money for the annual payments. But I constantly tried to figure out where the money would come from. Shortly after our purchase I lost my job. I tried to make up for the lost income by working hard on the farm. Then I lost my health. Not only could I not help my husband, I had large medical bills. When the Christmas trees were big enough to harvest, the market declined so we were not making a profit. We made each minimal payment as it came due, but the bulk of the loan remained. By my calculations, we couldn’t pay off the 13-year contract.
Then one Sunday I was praying, “Give us this day our daily bread.” I realized it was saying that God takes care of our daily needs. It didn’t say God had to explain where next week’s bread was coming from. In ten years God had been faithful from day to day, yet I was still wasting my time worrying about three years down the road. God can be trusted to provide all my needs at the perfect time and in His way, not mine.

Have you ever tried to calculate how God should answer your prayers?