My wife and I were discussing a tough conversation she was praying about, and she wondered aloud if she had prayed enough.

I immediately thought of Street Fighter.

In order to unleash your most powerful moves, you’ve got to get in a few good hits first (or take a few, depending on the game). With each hit, your Special meter goes up. Watch the little line crawl across the bottom of the screen bit by bit, wait for the meter to fill up, half-circle-back+HP+HK and KA-SHIIIING! Cascade of blue fireballs.

Prayer doesn’t work like that. Persistence is good, yes. Definitely keep at it. But there’s no point system to determine whether or not you’ll get what you ask for. Not that simple.

Watch as God suddenly grants some requests and lets us wait for others. Maybe He’s waiting for us to step forward in faith. Maybe He’s waiting for the circumstances to fall into line with His plan. I can’t say, but He knows what He’s up to.

It’s not like He’s looking down on us, going “Mmm, sorry. Would have introduced you to your soulmate if you had just prayed for ten minutes instead of nine.”

I say that because in Jen’s case, she was praying and listening in the midst of her circumstance. Do likewise, and don’t worry if it doesn’t turn out how you’d like right away.