As I look back over the last year and look forward to the next one, I’m reminded of how quick I am to underestimate what God can do, and how often He’s proven me wrong.
I can’t tell you how many times I saw Him do this in the past twelve months. There were times I prayed for a hope of mine to come to fruition, for a hard situation to be resolved, and for healing or a change of situation for someone in my life. In each of these, I kept trying to right-size my request and make sure I wasn’t asking too much. In theory I knew that anything was possible with God, but I regularly found myself praying for what I thought was realistic rather than what I truly hoped for (you can tell I haven’t conquered this habit yet, as this is not the first time I’ve written about this topic).
And yet, despite my doubting, in each of these situations God showed up and answered the actual desires of my heart, not the watered-down version that I gave Him.
Years ago when I was struggling a bit with my health, I thought I could only pray for healing on the small scale – God, don’t let my blood sugar get too low right now,or God, please keep me out of the hospital. I didn’t expect to get to a place where I could travel and exercise without issue, or be able to get the flu and not end up in the hospital, or be pain-free for such long stretches of time like I am now. I was praying small prayers back then, but God was answering big ones.
Plenty of times I asked God to help me find the right person – someone who would love me as Christ loves the Church, who would be a strong, kingdom-minded, spiritual leader in our home, who would be excited about joining me in what God has called me to and would be called to things that I can join him in as well. Even though I prayed for these and many more qualities in a future spouse, the temptation was always there to settle for less, because I thought I might be asking for too much. And yet, just three months from now I will get to marry the love of my life, who has been an answer to one very specific prayer after another (if you’re reading this, LJ, lova ya). I was praying big prayers, while tempted to pray smaller ones. But God was always planning on answering the big.
There were also times this year I asked God to help people in my life out of a bad – sometimes life-alteringly so – situation. In these moments, I prayed because I knew I should. But truthfully, I didn’t expect to see much, if anything, change. It seemed too difficult, too unlikely. Yet, each of those circumstances did a complete 180, thanks only to God. Once again I was praying small prayers, while God was answering big ones.
I think it’s natural to feel like we have to shrink our prayers and expectations. We’re human, and are so used to our own limitations that we forget our God is limitless. I know I have a tendency to assume that things will always stay exactly as they are; when I have one reality in front of me it’s hard to visualize any other.
It can also be hard to pray big prayers after disappointment. When we don’t get the answers we want, it feels safer to manage our expectations and not get our hopes up. When that person isn’t healed, or we lose that job, or life doesn’t look the way we wanted it to, it’s okay to feel the pain of that. God meets us in our grief just as much as He meets us in our joy. But praying smaller prayers doesn’t stop us from hurting when life is hard; it only stops us from experiencing the wonder that comes from seeing a prayer answered in supernatural specificity.
Something I need to ask myself is this: Did it seem realistic to the Israelites enslaved in Egypt that they would ever see freedom, or that Pharaoh would willingly let them go?
Did it seem realistic that God would split the sea in two, letting them walk through on dry land? Or that He would provide manna every day for forty years?
Did it seem realistic that Jesus would heal a sick woman simply by the touch of His cloak, or that He would cast out demons, or raise the dead?
Did it seem realistic that the Son of God would suffer, die, and be raised to life in order to give life to a fallen creation?
Thankfully, we don’t serve a God who is realistic. We serve a God who can’t be boxed in by our tiny expectations, who does the impossible like it’s nothing. Not only that, but we serve a God who delights in giving good gifts to His children.
So, in 2026, I’m challenging myself to pray bigger prayers.
God knows the desires of my heart anyway, so I might as well verbalize what I’m hoping for. And He is present whether I get the answers I want or not, which means I can pray without fear of disappointment, knowing that my true joy is found in Him.
I can especially pray with confidence if I’m asking for things that I know are in His will: that those around me would come to know Him, that they would be freed from sin and shame, that they would find spiritual healing and rest in their Savior. I can ask these things in faith, knowing that I’m aligned with the heart of the Father on this.
Maybe you want 2026 to be the year of praying big prayers for you, too. I’d encourage you to join me in this, and in looking ahead at the year to come with excitement and expectation.
Related Scripture
Ephesians 3:20-21
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Exodus 12:31
Then [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said.'”
Exodus 14:10-14, 21-22
“As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, ‘Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’ But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent’…Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.’
Matthew 9:20-22
“And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well.’ But Jesus turning and seeing her said, ‘Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.’ At once the woman was made well.”
Romans 8:26-28
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.”
Matthew 19:26
“And looking at them Jesus said to them, ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'”
Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
Psalm 66:19-20
“But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me.”
The Girl that Jesus Loved 