Thanks for saying "No"

At A New Life Life Emerging Rick writes about unanswered prayer saying in part,

Have you ever looked back on your life and thanked God that he didn’t answer yes to a particular prayer, I mean something or someone that, at the time you thought you could not live without?

I have.

There are days when I say aloud, "Thank you God! Thank you God! For not saying yes!"

If I am honest, looking back on it, I knew deep in my soul that I wasn’t ready or that God wasn’t ready, yet I attempted to force open closed doors.

I have had times in my life where I wasn’t getting the response I desired and so I forced situations. Every time that I did I ended-up in a position where I was basically miserable or at least had to go through the learning process all over again.

Jesus told his people to ask, seek and knock.

He did not say, "Demand from God that your will be done. Define what you think is best. Force every closed door to open."

The rest of the post is here.