It is exciting to see how God shapes and perfects our focus. We just need to ask.

Prayer is something always valued in our family. Even from a little child, there were many ways God answered my prayers. Every answer underscored my faith in God. But I must admit that sometimes God is baffling and surprising in how He answers.

Recently, that feeling of being disconnected and unfocused was overwhelming during prayer time. It was not a problem when reading a prayer request and praying for the specific person. In fact, this part of prayer ministry brings me much joy.

The problem was concentrating on a list of people to pray for each day. This list was causing me the focusing trouble. It’s prayer time and the list is propped in front of my eyes, but my mind starts to wander. Or sergeant brain says, “Time to concentrate girl!” But instead, the grocery list starts filling in the blanks. Then the exercises left undone loom in front of the requests, daring me to choose one over the other. The struggle gains momentum, and I begin to question my sincerity. The struggle is real and the fight needs more soldiers.

In our prayer team meeting I asked the group to pray for God to help me focus on the prayer requests. The request seemed frivolous yet essential. God knows our struggles and He asks us to gather together to pray for each other. It’s hard to admit that there was doubt in my mind that this problem was important enough to bring it to the group — a doubt that it was too insignificant. But I'm here to tell you that God wanted to teach me that no problem is too small for God. And this request for God to help me focus better did not go unanswered. It is surprising what God does when we, as a group, ask.

The next time I started to pray, God led me to focus my prayer as if I was speaking, literally, to the world — like it was a radio broadcast coming over the heavenly airwaves. It was amazing! I had focus, empathy, and felt the power of God. That little trick gave me the sense that the God of the universe just needed me to know that prayer is directed to Him, prayer reaches Him, and prayer blesses people all over the world.

This was not the only way God began to grow my focus. A few days later, He led me to sing my prayer. Composing music is a hobby, so I sat at the piano with the prayer requests in my cell phone nearby and began to sing them, making up tunes along the way. The experience was beautiful, heart-felt and focused. It will be exciting to see how God will continue to shape and perfect my focus. I love the fact that He surprised me!

We know God will always grant our request if it is in his will. He has a thousand ways to help us. Focusing better during prayer is something he definitely wanted to help me with.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13