The hardest things in life are usually the best things...

I am in the process of writing a paper right now for the Christian Foundations class we are taking.  The topic I chose out of the numerous options we had was one on doubts.  Basically, you have to choose a spiritual area in which you have experienced/are experiencing doubt, and write about it. 

I chose this topic because I knew I could relate to it, and because it seemed like less research than some of the others :-)  So I'm writing in on my doubts about God answering prayer.

Now this an area that is so fundamental to our faith that it sometimes seems almost heretical to admit to having doubts about it.  But I think it's something that we've all experienced at some point or another, and we may as well admit it.  We pray hard for something that we believe should be right, and it doesn't happen.  Why?  I've struggled with this so many times, and it still doesn't make much sense.

So in that way, this paper is ending up to be a lot harder than I thought.  I have to look into the Scripture and see what the Bible actually says about God answering prayer, and then wrestle with this versus my own experiences.  Is He always faithful, or are there times when He just simply remains silent?  What about when we ask for things the Bible tells us to ask for, like wisdom or guidance, and we still don't seem to be any closer to an answer than before?  Why does God sometimes heal in answer to prayer, and other times not?

So these are some of the questions I'm dealing with in order to write this paper.  I can't say that I've necessarily found the answers.  In my heart I firmly believe that God is faithful and that He does want to answer our prayers, but maybe sometimes we need to be willing to admit that there are things we don't understand, instead of pretending to have it all together when we don't.  I don't know.  Those are my thoughts.  The rest, I guess, is up to Him.