A woman was terrified about ever praying for spiritual healing again because she had heard of someone dying despite their best spiritual efforts to stay alive. There was no medical solution to the deceased man’s problem, but nonetheless, prayer hadn’t saved him either.

“What if I get a disease someday?” The caller panicked. “What if one of my children get sick?” She feared. “What if I pray and nothing happens?” And the “What ifs…” poured out of her mouth building her thought into a frantic frenzy of doubt and uncertainty over whether God could help in time of emergency.

I’ve grappled with the same worry in the past, especially as a dad with two young children and a wife in the family. I’ve resolved the issue by eliminating “What ifs” from my reasoning.

“What if” fears are based on anticipation of failure. This is not the premise Jesus reasoned from. He reasoned from a premise of success. He knew God gets us out of every trouble, one way or the other, and he proved it with his resurrection and ascension.

If we let “What if” fears get out of control, progress stops.

For example, take learning to ride a bike. The list of “What ifs” could be endless.

• What if I fall?
• What if I can’t go fast enough?
• What if I look ridiculous? And more.

The “What ifs” need to be silenced and replaced with “I will.”

• I will stay up.
• I will pedal fast enough.
• I will ride with grace and coordination.

One may fall while trying. One may not move fast enough and one may look like a clown in his first attempts to ride, but with persistence and perseverance, he will succeed. He has to start where he is and try until success is clinched.

The doubt of “What if I fail in prayer,” needs to be replaced with “I will succeed in prayer.” And with persistence, perseverance, and steady growth in spiritual understanding we find the spiritual answers we need when we need them.

If temporal aid is useful to get us through a pressing emergency, that aid will become obvious at the time.

Over the long run, there are no unanswered prayers. All disease, sin and death succumb to the omni-activity of Truth and Love. This final realization is called…eternal life. There’s no better time to realize it then now!!