“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him’” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

You may remember Jesus’ talking about how the Father knows how to give good gifts to His children and how an earthly father would never give his child a serpent instead of a requested fish, or a stone instead of asked-for bread (Matthew 7:9-10). If his child needed food, he would feed him or her.

Our heavenly Father loves us more than earthly fathers could ever love their children, and our “Father who is in heaven” will “give good things to those who ask Him!” (v. 11). And we are asking for good things.

When the Holy Spirit moves us to pray for things other than our ultimate request—the salvation of our prodigals—those things are not a substitute gift. They are a part of His plan. They are part of the big gift. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

Our heavenly Father has a plan we may or may not understand, and neither do we have to understand. We have to trust.

We have to trust His plan, His great love for them and us, His power, His goodness, His ability, and all that He is. No eye has ever seen all He has prepared for us. No ear has ever heard of all the good He will bring from all of this. No heart has ever entertained the entirety of the vastness of our God and His goodness toward us.

So, in all of the raindrops we witness or hear about, in all of the answered prayers while waiting for their surrender, in all of the waiting, we celebrate! He is, after, all, sovereign God and our loving heavenly Father!