At thirteen I felt the desire to create and lead a young ladies Bible study. However, I wasn’t sure if this was the correct route for me. I was only thirteen!

So, I began to pray.

And pray, and pray, and pray. My journal was filled with prayers about this Bible study. I prayed for over a year, continually asking God for His guidance and direction.

The summer I was to turn fifteen I finally decided to start this Bible study. I worked tirelessly on deciding what we would study that summer. I created letters detailing what the study was about, when and where it would be and a little bit about myself. I handed the letters to the parents of girls I wanted to invite. I invited eight girls, and all eight showed up.

All four years of high school I led a girls Bible study at my church with material I wrote. None of that would’ve come to fruition if I hadn’t spent over a year of my life in prayer for that Bible study.

Flash forward five years to when I’m nineteen. A friend of mine cut me off and shut me out of their life. I was hurt, upset and angry. Once again, I went to prayer. For another year of my life, I prayed over one situation. I poured out my anger, frustration and hurt over this loss of a friendship. Then, I left it with God.

To be honest, I didn’t think that prayer would ever get answered in the way I wanted it to. But God showed up and proved me wrong. Over a year ago my friend apologized, and recently we’ve been working on restoring our friendship.

Once again, I prayed for over a year about a particular situation, and once again, God showed up.

The concept of persevering in prayer is not a new concept, and it’s something Jesus talked about. In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told the parable of a widow and unjust judge:

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:1-8, ESV

This parable encourages believers to go before God again and again with our requests. Sometimes, we think we only need to pray once and we’ll get an answer; that if we don’t get an answer then God said no. But maybe, you need to keep taking your request before God again and again. I encourage you to not lose heart, keep praying.

Questions to Ponder:

1. What situation are you facing right now where you need God’s help?

2. Have you taken it to Him in prayer?

3. What prayer in your life do you need to keep bringing before God’s throne?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mariah Roberson is passionate about leading people to know and love Jesus for themselves. She is a college student, who lives outside Wichita, KS. When not doing homework or working, Mariah enjoys reading any book she can get her hands on, and writing and leading Bible studies. She believes that God shows up in the every day, laughter is some of the best medicine and that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth.