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Anyone wanting to use the computer in the Porter home has to be quick. They have to watch for Mum to relinquish her position at the keyboard and then make a dash for the most popular seat in the house.

Kylie seized her opportunity after school when the telephone rang and I went to answer it. At first I didn't realize that she'd slipped into my place, but it wasn't long before I heard the familiar sound of tapping keys and clicking mouse buttons.

Hanging up the receiver I decided to leave Kylie undisturbed.

"She's probably doing some research," I thought as I closed the study door and headed toward the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Kylie's workload over recent weeks had been enormous, culminating in this one week where every report, project and presentation seemed to fall due at the same explosive time. With the added burden of building a scale model of "Big Ben" for her major artwork, it was a wonder that she was as calm and relaxed as she appeared to be. Even if she was just checking her e-mail, I couldn't help but think that the break would do her good.

Moments later Kylie appeared alongside me at the kitchen counter. She had a look on her face that made it very obvious that any research she'd been doing had nothing whatsoever to do with school. On a whim she'd decided to look up some Spanish phrases. "Just some things that might be useful to know," she informed me as she began to read from the sheet of paper in her hand.

It was quite possibly the worst Spanish accent ever attempted and probably the most grammatically incorrect sentence ever constructed, but I had to ask, "Which means?"

"Have you found my rat?" Kylie quickly interpreted, while just managing to hold back a giggle.

"Oh yes!" I replied, with a crooked smile. "I can see that would be a very valuable sentence to know."

The following phrases contained such important things as requests for pizza and information regarding the whereabouts of lost elephants.

With a laugh, Kylie headed toward the garage in search of her Dad. Such vital information shouldn't be squandered on just one parent. As she walked out the door I shook my head and smiled. "Have you found my rat!" I chuckled as I returned to the task of peeling potatoes.

It was only a few minutes later that I heard the sound of animated voices coming from the front of the house. I could hear Steve saying something, but Kylie seemed to be almost hysterical. Looking out the lounge room window, I could see my husband and our two employees heading into the garage while Kylie stood near the front door almost dancing on the spot in agitation.

For one terrible moment I thought that something might have happened to our little dog, Tiger. Running to the door I called out to my upset teenager, "What on earth's wrong?"

"There's a mouse in the laundry!" Kylie called back, while watching carefully to make sure that no runaway rodent came scurrying her way.

As I unlocked the screen door and let her into the safety of the house, I couldn't resist saying, "Well, you did ask if we'd found your rat. Will a mouse do?"

With the drama over and the possibility of being attacked by the 3-inch terror very unlikely, Kylie relaxed and laughed at the coincidental timing.

"Just goes to show how true that old saying is," I added in my best "wise mother" voice. "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it!"

In some ways the same is true in our prayer life. How easily we pray such things as:

or

or even

But when God starts to do the very things that we've asked, we often fall apart and wonder what we could possibly have done so wrong that's brought so much turmoil into our lives. Quite often we don't even connect that these things are happening because we actually asked for them.

The reality is that when we pray these types of "scary" prayers, we need to be prepared to go through whatever is necessary to see them answered. These are all things that the Father desires His children to ask for and when we do walk through the flames we can be quite confident in knowing that He's right there beside us.

Yet apart from these type of cutting edge prayers, being "careful what we ask for because we might get it" isn't normally the problem for someone who's wanting to grow in Christ. More often it's a case of being careful what we ask because we may not get it!

Jesus did say that we could ask for anything in His name, but there is a proviso that we sometimes overlook. Whatever we ask for has to be in line with God's will. The Apostle John made that very clear when he wrote:

This is an incredible piece of Scripture and such an inspiration to our faith in approaching God, but we can't omit that little section "according to his will".

For example, it doesn't matter how much you may pray for an opportunity to take revenge on another person, God isn't going to give it to you. Instead, He'll start whispering to your spirit to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

Although Garth Brooks sings a song of being thankful for unanswered prayers, the fact is that God does answer every prayer. He just doesn't always answer them the way we expect. Some times the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Other times, it may be a cautionary "Wait!" Then there are those times when God's best answer for us, as His precious children, is "No!"

I want my prayers to always hit the mark and to do that, I need to be able to pray with understanding and discern God's will. Paul gives us the only way to be able to know the Father's desire for our lives:

Quite simply, when we intimately know God and His Word, then we'll know how to pray according to His will. Then we won't need to be careful what we ask for, because we'll be confident that the answer will be exactly what we expect. Or, like Christ, we'll be able to say with complete peace, "Your will be done" (Matthew 6:10).

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