Dear God,

Give me faith, but don’t put me in situations that require it.

Give me hope, but don’t disappoint me.

Give me contentment, but give me everything I want.

Give me grace, but don’t put me around people who need it.

Give me patience, but don’t make me wait.

Give me forbearance, but don’t let people hurt me.

Give me compassion, but don’t let people bother me.

Give me comfort, but don’t let me experience grief.

Give me character, but don’t give me trials.

Give me answers, but don’t give me cause to question.

Give me discernment, but don’t let me experience uncertainty.

Give me self-control, but don’t let me be tempted.

Give me purpose, but don’t make me work to find it.

Give me perseverance, but don’t let me fail.

Give me peace, but don’t make me sacrifice.

Give me love, but don’t let me experience loss.

Give me success and I’ll give you credit.

Give me fame and I’ll share it with You.

Give me an easy life and I’ll follow You.

Your good and faithful servant,

Amen.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, speaker, and thought leader. To learn more about his services, visit NathanMagnuson.com/consulting or follow him on Twitter.

I had a real-life object lesson when we presented a junior version of the Circle Maker series to our Sunday School kids. It was a big day and we had a prayer walk scheduled to circle the theater where we meet. The kids were excited and one of them recommended praying for the “sick and the homeless” people at one of our prayer stops. I thought this was a particularly good idea since one girl in our class, a five year-old named Mykala has leukemia. I wanted a chance to circle her in pray as we circled the theater.

An interesting thing happened to me when it came time to pray for the sick. I realized that the week before when we invited our kids to draw their own prayer circles on butcher paper, Mykala had asked that God would use her as a doctor someday. It had really impressed me then because at age five I was transitioning between an aspiring garbage man and an aspiring NFL quarterback. But as I started to pray for little Mykala, I realized that her desire to be a doctor had likely been shaped by all the times she must have spent with doctors in her short life, and those interactions had probably prompted the desire of how she wanted to be used by God. If this was God’s way of impressing on her the desire to help the sick, then the absence of the disease would have meant the absence of the calling!

For the record, I did pray for Mykala’s physical health. And I didn’t just pray that the leukemia would remain in remission, but that God would take it away altogether. (Even I know you can’t tell kids that bold prayers honor God and then offer up something weak yourself). But on the inside, I also prayed that God would accomplish His purposes for this little girl’s life.

And on the inside I also resolved a little harder to stop praying away and start praying through – to stop praying that the problems in my life would go away as soon as possible and risk diminishing God’s presence in me, His purposes for me, and His glory through me… as long as it takes.

Thank you NCC Crosswalk Kids!

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, speaker, and thought leader. To learn more about his services, visit NathanMagnuson.com/consulting or follow him on Twitter.