Have you ever thanked God for not answering a few of your prayers? Have you ever thanked God for His perfect timing? Do you ever stop to think that it was a blessing that God didn’t let you enter that relationship, or have enough money to take a certain trip?  I don’t think I do it enough. I was just thinking one day about some of the things that have happened in my life that I prayed for and didn’t receive when I thought the timing was right. Whether it was a new relationship, new friendship, new job, or other opportunities, I was thinking about how blessed I am now because I know that God has my best interest at heart.

What sparked these thoughts was a picture of an outfit that I wore a while ago. I wore a t-shirt from Forever 21 that says “Count Your Blessings.”

Often times we get fed up and frustrated when our prayers aren’t’ answered in the time that we have allotted. When will we realize that it is never our time, but it is always God’s time? We see things happening in the lives of our family members, friends, colleagues, and associates and dare I say it, become a little jealous. I can speak from experience and had to check myself and check my heart. Sometimes when we are in “the moment” we don’t realize that God just saved us from heart ache, anxiety, unnecessary stress, financial problems, mental anguish and more. We just think about why we are so “unlucky” or why is God taking so long to do something. Psalm 46:10 says “Be still, and know that I am God.” Galatians 6:9 says “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up”

We have to thank God for his perfect timing and allowing us to “dodge bullets” because some things that we prayed for was not in our best interest. I think of Beyonce’s song “Best Thing I Never Had” and she says “Thank God you blew it. Thank God I dodged the bullet…” and this statement can be connected to many aspects of life not just romantic relationships like she was referring to. Thank God we didn’t get that job because a better one came a long, Thank God for removing negative people we thought were friends out of our lives, Thank God for showing us compassion so we are able to repair broken relationships.

We have to look at what we feel is negative as a blessing because God has our best interest at heart. I am thankful that He doesn’t listen to me sometimes because I would be in serious trouble! We have to realize that God answers every prayer whether we like the answer or not. It may be yes, no, not yet, or he may have something better in mind that we can’t even imagine. So today I urge you to know have any doubts or worries. I urge you not to be depressed or angry. I urge you not to feel like God has forgotten about your prayers, but just Thank Him in Advance for what is to come.