People want the outcome but not the journey

There is a part of answered prayer that we do not talk about enough: the journey. We do not even think about the journey as being a part of God's answer to our prayer.  We home in on the outcome but rarely consider the journey required to reach it.  We often treat prayer as a supernatural bypass, expecting to move directly from the request to the answer.

We want the successful business, the healthy marriage, the financial stability, the healed life, or the fulfilled dream. However, we do not always want the discomfort, discipline, patience, and personal growth that may come before it.

The journey stretches us in places we have never been stretched. It exposes our fears, weaknesses, unhealthy habits, and lack of preparation. When that discomfort becomes too much, some of us try to escape it. We numb ourselves with vices that allows us to temporarily avoid what we are feeling.

However, numbing ourselves does not move us forward. It only disconnects us from the part of the journey that is trying to teach us something.

We cannot continually pray for a new life while escaping every experience that requires us to become new. Sometimes the journey is difficult because it is developing the strength, wisdom, and maturity we will need to sustain the outcome once it arrives.