Unanswered Prayers

I have had many opportunities to reflect back on my life lately. Wondering, would I do things differently at all? If I could go back to just one moment in my life, what would it be? Would I tell myself to change things? I think of all the prayers I offered up for certain situations to be different at the time I was experiencing them. I have endured some pretty painful things throughout the years and there are so many times I have prayed not to have to go through them. It always seemed impossible to bear at the time.
Yet, here I sit today, able to reflect back on those times and know without a doubt that I am better for them. I remember being told once that God didn't want me to have to hurt, but that He would never take away the hurt when there was an opportunity to learn something. It didn't offer much comfort at the time. It stuck with me though, and has offered comfort countless times since. While I wish I didn't have quite so much to "learn", I am grateful to know that Heavenly Father will be with me through these "opportunities" and will get me safely through to the other side.
So why call this post Unanswered Prayers? There is a specific prayer that I offered for quite some time over and over about 10 years ago. This prayer went unanswered for more than a year even though I continued to offer it each day. I am more than grateful that this prayer remained unanswered because it brought me to Rick. The heartache I felt at not having this prayer answered is nothing compared to the joy of finding my "Unanswered Prayer" in the man I married. I look back over the last 10 years and see the simple and pure beauty that Rick has brought to my life and I am overcome once again with love for him.
He started out as my trainer at work. We developed a casual friendship that was mostly about teasing and laughing at each other. I looked forward to his smile everyday. I was hurting at the time and he helped me laugh. Our friendship grew stronger and stronger and before I knew it, I was offering another specific prayer that went unanswered. I prayed not to fall in love with him. He was my best friend. I had lost so much at this point that I couldn't bear the idea of losing his friendship. He didn't want to settle down yet and I didn't want to scare him. I prayed for several months not to fall for him. It didn't work. He cared for me in a way no person had ever done before and it was impossible not to love him. We began dating and after many months, we were married. That was a prayer that didn't go unanswered. Here we are, married almost 8 years. We have our 2 greatest blessings in our children and one more on its way to our home. Life has not been easy, but at least we have each other. Such a cliche but I believe that. I lean on my husband and hope that he leans on me when things get tough and we not only survive, we thrive. He is the greatest love I've ever known and I'm so thankful that those prayers went unanswered. I have the life I have always wanted and the best partner, friend and lover I could ever have asked for.
So to go back to the questions I first asked, would I change anything in my life? Nope. It all made me who I am and gave me the wonderful life I have today. I would go through it all again and again to get this life.