Prayer: waiting in hopeful expectation

OK. So we're finally submitting... and we're being completely transparent with God in our needs, our hopes, and our deepest heart-longings.

All this happened quite easily and quickly, of course. No struggle. No blood, sweat, tears.

Right.

But we're there... now what?

At this point in time, God instantaneously always sends me a bullet-pointed email with 3-5 action steps that I can easily take to realize all my hopes and dreams and to resolve whatever pertains to my current life situation drama.

Right.

See, I think I would be far more comfortable with that option... or, I would love to just pretend that we never had this conversation... that those needs/wants/desires aren't there, and I am a-okay fine! But I don't think that's actually where God invites us. Rather, I think the point of desperation prayer-- of real heart-longing prayers-- is that they leave us in a place of waiting, dependence, and expectation.

"I have no where else to turn." "I cannot do this for myself." "I need you!"

I like to call this the "point of no return" because here and now, we've expressed a heart-felt deep need that we ourselves cannot meet. There's no where else we can go... it's either God or nothing... there is no back-up plan.

And so we have a choice: either we wait in hopeful expectation OR we stuff it and pretend it doesn't exist, medicate in our usual ways, and allow our unmet desires to ferment into overflowing wells of bitterade and cynicism.

There's something holy in the waiting, hard though it is...

It's far easier to stuff it. To run. To bury things like a skinny squirrel from a large family in the midst of a cold winter. To pretend that it doesn't matter. To "move on." To "be strong." But it is far better to press deeper into God...

This waiting is our act of worship to God.

So we wait in hopeful expectation:

"Please bless me, Lord. I have no where else to turn. I need you to act on my behalf."