Prayer Isn't a Wish List: Trusting God's Timing Over Our Wants

Have you ever noticed that we often pray the hardest when something is falling apart?

When we need healing...
 When we need an answer...
 When we need God to fix what feels broken.

But what if prayer was never meant to be our emergency response? What if it was always meant to be the foundation of our relationship with Jesus?

In this episode, Shannon explores why we tend to approach God with a list of requests instead of a heart that simply longs to be with Him. Together, we'll look at what Scripture teaches about praying with trust, surrender, and confidence in God's perfect timing—even when His answer isn't the one we expected.

If you've been waiting on God, wrestling with unanswered prayers, or wondering why He seems silent, this conversation is for you. God's delays are never His absence. Sometimes He's strengthening the roots before He reveals the fruit.

Join us as we learn how to move from praying only for what we want to praying for what God wants to do in us.

Bible Verses

• Matthew 6:9-10 
• John 15:5 
• Psalm 37:4-5 
• Isaiah 40:31 
• Philippians 4:6-7 
• Romans 8:28 

Key Takeaway:
Prayer isn't about changing God's mind—it's about allowing God to transform our hearts. When we trust His timing, we discover that His presence is the greatest answer to prayer.

 "Maybe today God isn't asking you to pray longer or louder. Maybe He's simply inviting you to stay. To sit in His presence without an agenda. Because the greatest purpose of prayer isn't getting God to do something for us—it's knowing the One who has already done everything for us through Jesus Christ." 

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https://unrelatedsisterspodcast.buzzsprout.com and tell us your stories and let us know if it’s okay to share (no names). Let us know if you need prayer or how we can support you in your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Lord, we love you today and we just wanna thank you for allowing us to be here together today, Lord, to just um chat and see what you have in store. And we just wanna thank all the listeners today in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So uh let's talk.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

So last week, or welcome to Unrelated Sisters Truth and Grace Conversation. I'm Shannon. I'm Dad. And we are here today and we're just gonna kind of chit-chat about some things that God kind of brought to my attention this week. Um, we had uh inventory at work, so I work an hour and 20 minutes away from my home. So when we have inventory, I always get a hotel and I stay, I stay uh three or four days leading up to hotel based on where we're at. Um I should have came show to you.

unknown 0:54

You could have.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

My work wouldn't have already. You could have. There was two beds. Um, but I always stay in a hotel and so you know, we worked really long hours and then I'd go back to the hotel and uh my mind would race over and over and over again about the day, and um I flipped the TV on just trying to slow myself down. And when I found a show and it was called 911. And I and that's what I that's what I watched the whole time. The whole time I've been gone. I watched a show called 911, it was on every day, and um, they did like marathons of it or whatever. And uh so and I got to uh and it came to my attention that we use God as a 911. Right? So when you're in an emergency and you're panicking or you need help, you dial 911, and there's this calm voice on the end of the on the end of the phone that's there to help you, right? And you you you you know you're still in this panic telling them what's going on or what you need or what you know, blah, blah, blah, whatever, and they stay calm the whole time and they walk with you and they talk with you and they walk you through it. And we and and I got to thinking because, you know, I always I pray, I talk about it all the time. I pray over my store all the time and I pray over the associates. And of course, you know, I get up, I get up Tuesday morning and I'm like, I'm like, um, you know, God, please, you know, help the counters to see and count what they need to count. We, you know, blah, blah, blah. We need a good number today. Give us, you know, this and that, you know, and on my way home, on my way home Tuesday night, and we did get a good number, by the way, but on my way home Tuesday night, I felt like everywhere I looked, there was a police car, there was a fire truck, there was an ambulance, there was, there was some kind of emergency going on outside my car around me. You know, and I got, and then God goes, so you prayed for inventory this morning, but you won't pray for what you really want. Right. So, and then it hit me. I use, I've been using him as a 911.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I've been using him as that uh day-to-day 911, right? And prayer was never meant to be a 911 because God already knows what your 911s are. Prayer was meant to be a real your relationship, right? It's how you talk with him and how you how you re-interact with him and how you do all the things. And it made me, it made me start thinking, you know, all these great things have been happening, right? And and we just talked about, you know, we hadn't heard about the second conference, and you know, well, I can't do it that day. And you're like, well, maybe I can rearrange it. Well, we're not rearranging. If it's meant to be, it's gonna happen, you know, and I was just I don't know, it just blew my mind. It was so simple, yeah, yet seemed so far away.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

I think sometimes we were even just talking about that earlier about how uh the same way it is to buy for other people and it's hard to for ourselves, you know. Uh it's easy to go spend thirty dollars on somebody else, be like, oh, I'm not gonna do that for myself. Um same way with God. You can go to uh go to him in prayer about I can go all day long and be praying about other people's knees, and then same way, same thing. And I rarely be praying about my own needs. And I'm like, well, unless I'm it's an emergency. Unless it's an emergency, yeah, unless I'm stuck. And and the Bible even says that he cares about the small details. Yeah. So if it matters, us it matters to him. Right. About my situation. Yes. I really ain't been praying about it a whole lot. Really. I've just been talking about it a whole lot. You know what I mean? But not really I mean, I feel like the Lord can rearrange He will re you know, or give me some more uh strength to go through this what I'm going through, but I really ain't even been praying for things for myself. And we should. Yes. It's okay, we should. Like there's nothing wrong with this.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, you know, and so it just it just amazes me that as we're already caregivers as women, right? We're already that caregiver. That's our first instinct is to take care of whoever or whatever situation is going on in our household at work, uh with our friends, whatever, but we don't take that minute to say, and even though he knows, right? Like he knows what I need.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, he knows.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

But my daddy always knew what I needed too. That means it didn't mean I didn't have to ask for it, right? My daddy knew I needed new shoes for school, but I still had to ask for shoes, right? My daddy knew I needed food to eat, right? I still had to ask for food, you know, so that's no different than our relationship with God, and it just blows my mind that we have such a hard time with it.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Like, I don't know. Is it because we think I don't know, probably a lot of times too. I feel like we're so busy because I know for sure you're a um you have a servant's heart and you like to help people. I do. And I do I like to help people too, and sometimes we get caught up in doing that in the Lord, and then we miss what the Lord's even trying to do for us. Yes, yes, you know what I mean, and and we gotta be more intentional and back where he really wants us to be doing, and why are we doing what we're doing? You know, we talked about this before, you know. What you got over there?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Well, so uh, you know, I started thinking about this last Wednesday, and then uh, you know, life be laughing. And uh so, you know, one of the reasons we struggle with prayer often is we use it as a tool instead of a relationship. And that was one of the things I was saying. It is we use a lot of things in our life as a tool instead of a relationship. And we, you know, God just wants our relationship. He won't, you know, we're quick to pray when life's falling apart, we're quick to pray when somebody else asks us to pray, we're quick to pray, you know, when we need something, when we need a miracle, right? But we need something every day, you know, and it's not meant to be an emergency hotline, and that's where the 911 came along. But it says in the Bible in John 15, 5, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Do you notice what Jesus said? Come to me when you have a problem. He said, Remain in me. He didn't say come to me when you have a problem. He says, Remain in me. And that's I think that's where we struggle, right? We let everybody else's needs get in front of our needs. And it's human nature, I feel like it, you know. I feel like that it's part of the way we were designed.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

You know, I'll be thinking I'd be I feel like I'd be thinking a month ahead of what I'm gonna have to do for everybody else. You know what I mean? Some I do here lately. Yeah, yeah. And because I'm because this is happening, you know what I mean? So I need to do this, this, this, but I'm really gonna have to put myself in the equation somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Well, you know, um we pray for answers. We pray for answers, right? But shouldn't we be praying to stay connected? Instead of, hey God, I need this, or hey God, I you know, this is what I this, you know what I mean? But we're supposed to be praying to stay connected, and yet we find ourselves praying for what needs to be the answers that we need. Uh, you know, we fix marriages, finances, uh, we pray to open doors, we pray to heal situations, we pray to change people, to change another person, to change ourselves within. But prayer isn't about convincing God to do our will. It's about allowing God to align our hearts with his will. And when we treat him like 911 and we treat him like that calm voice on the other end of a phone, are we connecting with his will or are we saying, okay, this is what I want? And it seems so much easier to be about what I want, what I think, what my will is, you know, and I seem to be a very big word sometimes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. In Matthew 6, 10, it says, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's a hard prayer to pray if you truly mean it, right? I mean your will be done.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yeah. Because then you'd be like, Well, okay, you want to mix your will his will and let it hope it all works out. You know what I mean? Yeah. Instead of like letting it be for his full will. Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

I manipulate it a little bit. Yeah, I mean, there's always things that we think we can do better. You know, uh my kid, you know, he uh he calls me the other day and and he's he's upset about something that's going on at work. And uh I'm like, well, did you go talk to somebody? And he's like, Well, no. I was like, Well, shouldn't you go talk to so and so? And he's like, you know, just and frustrated and and and because that wasn't the answer he wanted, right? He wanted me to to pacify it or whatever. And um, and then I don't know, 45 minutes later he calls me back and he says, You're right. I called, I went and talked to him and they took care of it, they understood, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, He goes, Sometimes I need you just to listen to me. And and and I said, I'm not here to pacify you. Like I'm not here to, I'm not here to do that. Like, I'm not gonna tell you that it's okay to not be an adult, right? And uh he's like, you know, and but I feel like God does us that way too. Like he sometimes he's like, it's not okay to not be an adult. Yeah, it's not okay to not be part, but we gotta do our part. We gotta do our part. And that's I think is where we have a hard time. You know, uh, it's hard to pray because sometimes God's timing doesn't match ours, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

And for sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Sometimes, you know, we pray for things and we think it should be this way, this way, and this way. And really it's not totally nothing like what we think it should be. And we want immediate answers, but God's work is eternal, right? He's thinking about, and I just got on to people, uh, my management at work. Um, they didn't make good decisions this week leading up to inventory, and then a few days after inventory, they just didn't make good business decisions. And it wasn't nothing to get anybody in trouble or nothing. They just didn't think about the consequences of if we did this, what it was gonna cause for the next two days, right? Instead of if we'd have done it this way, we wouldn't be in the shape we're in today, kind of thing. God does that for us. Yeah, God sees the whole picture, He sees the whole day, He sees the He sees tomorrow, He sees the next day, He knows in six months how it's gonna affect us in six months. And we live in a bubble, I think, and sometimes we don't think about the consequences of our actions today. It may not affect us today. It is coming, but six months down the road, a year down the road, how is it, you know, how is that going to affect our life or our purpose? You know, if we choose to go our way and not go his, where is that gonna take us? And it makes me wonder, you know, we do it a lot, I feel like. You know, and I do I think a lot of it we want answers, God develops faith. You know, and and I told somebody the other day, I was like, He's got a sense of humor. Like, I feel like God has this huge sense of humor. And sometimes I feel like he sits up there and he's like, I told you so. You know, when I first started dating my husband, we went out on a date and um it had been it had been raining, and when it rained, the front porch had the slick spot on it. And so when we got back home to bring me home, uh he go, I told him, I said, Be careful stepping up on this porch. Uh there's a slick spot when it rains on this porch. I don't know why, but there's a slick spot if he didn't hit that slick spot and just do a a a split. And I laughed. We hadn't this was like our third date, and I laughed, and then I helped him up, but I laughed first, you know, and sometimes I think God does this that way too. I mean, I don't know that he literally laughs at us, but he, you know, sometimes I feel like God laughs and then he picks us up and was like, okay, let's dust off the dirt kind of thing. And my husband still chose me, you know. I don't know that I would have chosen me after that because I laughed pretty hard. But, you know, we want fruit to grow and he's working on maintaining the roots in our dirt, you know. And sometimes when he's when he's laughing at us, we forget that he's fixing, he's gonna pick us up anyway. So, you know, sometimes that's uh it's kind of funny how things go around. Like everything seems to make full circle when we sit and we talk about things before we come up here, you know, it kind of funny house everything seems to go full circle about where we're at and where we're headed, you know, and um the conference, you know, Roots Before Fruits teaches as sometimes God delays the fruit because he's strengthening the root systems underneath. And if he gave us everything we asked for immediately, we are not ready. We do not have the character or the wisdom or the spiritual maturity to carry it out. I've been wanting to do a women's conference ever since I started telling my story. I used to be like, I'm gonna do, we're, you know, somebody's gonna ask me to come and speak and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. I don't know that I could have freely talked about it. You know what I mean? I don't know that I could have freely talked about because at that time I feel like I was still on who I was. Does that make sense? Like I feel like I was still on who I was, and instead of everything was still a 9-1-1, you know, because I wanted to, I know when we first met, it was about uh we went and eat lunch and we were talk, we talked. I don't know if you remember this, but we were talking and I kept talking about how I got better and how I made it. And when we walked away, I thought she ain't never gonna call me again. And you didn't for year for a few years, right? But it's because I was not even in a place, like your mama was so wanted us to get together because I think she thought I'd be a good influence on you. On the surface, I was a great influence.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

But I I don't think too that on my end, I was in a position to receive what you could give me. You know what I mean? Well, I don't know that I could have given it to you even if I tried. Because I was not even I went back out that 18 times, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 16:36

You know, but I was like, but I was it was still about what I had done, not about what God had done, right? Like even you brought us back together right when we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be. Oh, for sure, for sure. Uh but yeah, but you know, I remember leaving that lunch that day and thinking, well, I didn't do her any good. You know what I mean? And uh you did. Well, but you planted a seed. Maybe, maybe, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Um I just didn't have the roots to develop, you know, to grow it for real.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Well, and I don't and I think mine was all fruit. I don't think mine was roots either. Like I think even though I may have planted the seed in you, I d that it was possible to become where I was at. I it was all surface. It w I was still all surface. I was still, yeah, I was still I was still the weeds. I I wasn't even close to even knowing what my roots were. Uh I was still in that that I'm I'm an addict mentality, right? Not I'm a ex-addict mentality, right? I this is what I came from.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

But I think it's really neat though, even though you was in that position or place in your life, God still used you. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think sometimes we get caught up in thinking I gotta be here before it's really been effective. But really, I mean, you we you were still effective, you know, whether you think you were or not. Yeah, God still used you right there. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Isaiah 40, 31. But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strengths. So waiting isn't a punishment, even though I feel like sometimes it is. Uh waiting is preparation. And and I have a tr I have a hard time seeing the preparation, right? I have a hard time until it's done, until it's done, and I'm in the next season, and I'm like, oh, that's why. Oh, I get it now. You know, I get it now. And then and sometimes God's like, really. He'd just listen. He's like, really? He's just like, he's always like, okay, I see you. You know, he makes me want to be like, yeah, I see you too. You know. Uh Psalms 37, 4 through 5. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desire of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord and trust in him, and he will act. Delight yourself in the Lord. So, delight. That means relationship. That means take the time to get to know him and let him get to know you truly in that moment, in those moments of those, you know, we were talking about coming up. He was like, I'm ready for a nap. And I was like, Well, here's a place to take it because it's so peaceful and so calm.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Do you still have 50 million kids running around?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I don't. I don't have anybody running around. Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

What a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

I know. I'm just kidding. But you know, you he wants us to delight in him, and then he wants us to trust in him, and he wants us to commit our ways to him, and then he wants us to watch him work. And I think that's hard for us.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I think the commitment part is because I remember one time my brother told me it's like commitment is staying true to what you said long after the feeling you said it and it's gone. Right. Because it's easy to commit when we're happy or we're not hungry, or you know what I mean? Yeah. And then when that feeling's gone, you still gotta stay committed. You said it. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I had to work on that.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

I feel like I do too. I uh I was watching I sing a TikTok the other day, and the lady said her favorite thing is when plans get canceled, right? Because when you asked me when you asked me two weeks ago, in that moment, I was excited. Well, this is two weeks later, and life has happened, and I'd rather just stay home in my pajamas. Is that how we treat God? Sometimes. Sometimes. The goal of prayer is not to get God to agree with us, which sometimes we think it is. And the goal of prayer is the goal of prayer is to know him so well that when we begin to trust his timing, his plans and his heart for us. And 98% of the time, I feel like I'm there. Right? Like I feel like I I I'll trust his timing. I've you know, I trust his plans, I trust his heart for sure, right? But I trust his timing and his plans when it comes to something that I want. Right. Well no, because we want it.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Oh, yeah, I trust you, God. But when it's something that he wants, I know.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

We're like, I'm like, oh, is that really what we want? Yeah. Yeah, let's discuss this a minute. So if you've been frustrated because God hasn't answered a prayer yet, remember this God is not ignoring you. God is not late, and God is not withholding goods from you. He sees what you can't see. The Son God, who knows when a seed should be planted, also knows when fruit should appear. Keep talking. To him when you need something, but also talk to him when you don't. You know, with the environment that we live in today, you know, and and the things that have happened over the last five years, you know, I think about they want to defund the police and they want to do this and they want to do that. But when something crazy in life happens, that's the first people they call. That's the first people that we want on our side. That's the first people that we want to protect us, that should protect us, but we don't thank them for it, right? Well, God's the same way.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Right? He should be the first person we call, but he should also be the first person that we thank every day, or should be the first person that we, you know, say hi five to and the different things. So thank him, worship him, sit quietly with him, and then just tell him about your day. Like, even though he knows, right? Like, I think sometimes I take for granted that the fact that he knows what kind of day I've had. He knows that it was crappy or it was good or he knows it was stressful or frustrating. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I know. Full grown adults. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I told somebody the other day if I'd have known that that was what my position was going to make me was a full-grown adult babysitter. I don't know that I would have took the promotion.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yeah. This week was I done wrote two people up this week and I never do that. Them little young kids and their mouths.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Oh, I know. So disrespectful. You're here to get paid.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

You need to act like it. Right? So you know what? I ain't even in the mood for you right now. I'm gonna get back with you. With a write-up.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I I get it. I understand. What are you doing here? I understand. I tell them sometimes, like, I just can't deal with you right now. Yeah. Like, I need 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

I tell mom that all the time. All the time at work. But I mean, I love them. They're one of my work goods. But at the same time, you're not gonna Oh yeah, no, same way. I understand 100%. Yes. When the inventory manager said, Uh, I've seen you get mad, you know, when me and you had a spat and you got up and walked out. He said, But I've never seen you be so authoritative, you know, like this is what we're gonna do. Like, well, you know, sometimes we have to be like that. Sometimes we have to take authority. The Bible tells us to do that. Yes. You know what I mean? Take authority.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Yeah. Well, and that's what I told him the other day. I was like, at the end of the day, my name's on the receipt. Yeah, yes. At the end of the day, I am not at the end of the day, I am not responsible for anything in that building, but I'm accountable for everything that goes on at the end of the day. You know, and everybody's like, What? I'm not responsible for anything that goes on. I'm not responsible, I'm not responsible for making sure that people are here to work. I'm not responsible for making sure you do your work. I'm not responsible for making sure you order your features, I'm not responsible for any of the day-to-day business, but I'm held accountable for every bit of it if you don't do your part.

unknown 25:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

So, you know, and God feels the same way with us. He's not responsible for any decision or choices that we make, but at the end of the day, he's held accountable for everything that we do. Pray us out.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Lord, we love you, and we just thank you that Lord, as we're roots are growing, God, that you help us and give us strength to overcome any obstacle that we may be facing this week. And Lord, I just pray that um as a women's conference comes up, Lord, that you'll give us uh wisdom and understanding, Lord, and that uh whoever we're supposed to be connected with will be connected and everything will run good and smooth. And we just want to thank you for everything that you're doing in our life. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.