After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:10
Are you suffering? Your suffering will end when God is done using it. Suffering isn’t meant to destroy you, like you might think, but it’s meant to make you into something more than you are right now. Unless your suffering is self-inflicted, it will set you free if you will look in thanks on the one who allows it. All suffering should lead you to worship and thankfulness, not to resentment and distrust. When the suffering God Girl trusts God instead of blaming him, her prayers are focused not on getting rid of the problem but on serving the Answer. The most effective prayers aren’t the prayers begging for relief but the ones that look outside of yourself instead of inside.
The life of Job gives us a good example of powerful prayer. Job suffered a lot, but it wasn’t until he prayed for his friends that his life was healed: “After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). The best and most powerful prayer is always the prayer for someone else. When you take your eyes off of your own suffering and instead put them on serving others, you will find yourself free from grief and moving on to more important things—things that make a difference eternally.