God Rewards Our Efforts

I went to morning prayer at one of the SPO women's households this morning. For this we prayer liturgy of the hours (click here to learn more), and we do some intercessions. One of the girl's prayed for the Lord to answer our prayers, to reward our efforts. And then I was driving one of the girls to her class this morning and we were talking about this - the Lord rewarding our efforts.

As you all know by now, I took a semester off school, and during that time I was able to go to daily mass a lot. Though I struggled through that time, I see the Lord rewarded it. Now, I'm going through a tougher semester of school, spending a lot of time studying, had to cut back my hours at work, but the Lord has rewarded me in this because he has given me more opportunities to attend mass, an increased desire for the Eucharist, and he has given me a place to serve where I am fulfilled in all that I do.

This sister I was taking to school had a similar thought - in that God is her strength. She just started an additional class this week for the semester, and it's more taxing and very different from the classes she has recently been in, and she was questioning how she was going to do this - and then on Wednesday, she entrusted it to the Lord. She no longer had the strength to keep going, but since she handed it to the Lord he has supplied the strength she needed to persevere.

I was talking with one of my high schoolers on Sunday after youth group, and she was sharing her struggles, particularly her struggle in her walk with God at the present time and as we were chatting I told her that God was grateful for her efforts. It was a good thing that she recognized her relationship with the Lord was hurting, and it was a good thing she was seeking someone out! Praise the Lord for his goodness! He rewards us in ways that we never imagine.

There's a song that says something to the effect of there being more tears shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones - which I think is funny because God hears all our prayers, and he responds, but in accord with His will and including our free will.

So if you are feeling discouraged in your prayer, your relationship with God, your relationship with others - I encourage you not to be. Turn to the Psalms - they show us how God truly answers our prayers. He doesn't always answer them in the way we want or the way we expect, but he rewards our prayer, our efforts. He provides, and we can find peace and hope in that!