Unanswered Prayers?

**WARNING -- This post deals with religion and my beliefs.  It is not meant to offend anyone, so if you are easily offended by views on religion which are different from yours, you should probably skip this post**


I listen to sports radio on my way to work in the morning and every morning about the same time a local minister comes on and does a "thought of the day" and a plug for his church. 


This morning's thought has had me thinking all day.  It was a story about a man who, when he was young, asked for all of these things -- a Ferrari, two dogs, three sons, a tall thin wife, etc.  What he ended up with as a Honda civic, a cat, three daughters and a short, average sized woman.  He asked God one night why God didn't give him anything he asked for and God said "I could have given you what you asked for but instead I gave you what would make you happy."  The minister said that, as the old song goes, sometimes we should thank God for "unanswered prayers."


This has had me thinking all day about the unanswered prayers in my life.  I should probably start this by saying that I am not religious.  I would not classify myself as Christian or as having any other type of religious affiliation.  However, I do believe there is a higher power and I do pray to that higher power.  My problem is I have a hard time defining what that higher power is, i.e., a Christian God, Buddha, Allah, etc. 


I believe things happen for a reason -- I know after dealing with IF many people believe this is naïve, but I don't care.  It is what I believe.  I also believe that there is a plan for me and my husband that we are not privy to. 


I think this fundamental belief helps me grasp the idea of living childfree or leaving treatments behind and pursuing other things.  Maybe we are meant to adopt a child who is in foster care and give that child a home he/she might not otherwise have had.  Maybe we are meant to live childfree and do something great with our lives. 


I don't know what the plan is for me but I do wonder whether I will look back at all of this one day and be thankful for the unanswered prayers.  I sure hope so. 


"Unanswered Prayers"

Just the other night at a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be

She was the one that I'd wanted for all times
And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine
And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then
I'd never ask for anything again

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn't much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what he's doin' after all

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered

Some of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered...
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers