The title of this book caught my eye, and I quickly requested an ARC from NetGalley! The title is, "But I Prayed for This: What to Do When Living in God's Yes Is Harder Than You Expected" and it was written by Melissa Miller. We've all had times where we've prayed earnestly for something and received exactly what we prayed for. But after awhile (or perhaps even immediately) you quickly become disenchanted or frustrated with the very thing/outcome/person you were praying for. Miller wrote this book for those who can sympathize with this feeling. She describes life as having four seasons in which we receive an answer to prayer. Those four seasons are as follows: a Season of Blooming, a Season of Building, a Bittersweet Season, and a Season of Balancing. She goes on to describe each of these seasons, along with Scripture passages to accompany each. She also describes how what we're feeling occurs chemically in our bodies as something referred to as a reward prediction error. Miller asserts that "when reality doesn't meet our expectations, it creates what neuroscientists call a reward prediction error. In other words: your brain expected a payoff and didn't get it. So not only do your dopamine levels drop; they fall from the heigh of your expectations. The higher and more specific the expectation, the harder the crash, Instead of a double dose of joy, you get a double dose of disillusionment."

I appreciate how Miller acknowledges the reality of our feelings, but also encourages us to do what she refers to as "putting emotion in motion through prayer." She gives a lot of practical advice throughout this book, and I found it to be very helpful. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book.
As a woman who has recently come back to God after over 10 years away the title of this book instantly caught my eye on Netgalley and I had to read it.
I really enjoyed her depiction of life having 4 seasons.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC!

I absolutely love this book, and it was given to me in just the right season. Here I am, praying for all of these things and realizing that so many of them are set up like dominoes. If I get the one thing, I will need another and another and another and all of a sudden, I'm wondering if getting what God is giving me is actually what I wanted after all?

There are two ways to approach this. A good number of folks would say that if you get what you prayed for and it's not perfect, then God is showing you what a fool you are and how limited your understanding is. He hasn't really given it to you; He's testing you with it so as to develop greater character, deeper faith, more wild trust.

This book, on the other hand, takes the other approach - maybe it IS what God wants for you, but there's still some kinks to work out. Maybe there's something you have to bring to God's answer to your prayer so that you're really in it together - the way God wants everything. Maybe it's still good...you just have to get to the goodness. Maybe it brings up a bunch of other stuff for you that you finally have to deal with so that you can fully embrace the life God is giving you.

These days, I'm praying for my healing...and God is good in answering. But the more that He answers, the more I recognize that one healing requires another requires another and a lot of the work is stuff I need to engage in. So I really appreciated this author sharing her journey and insights to let me know I'm not alone - I can take the second perspective and run with it, relish it, and be grateful for it. Just as I am grateful for this book.

I have already recommended it to literally everyone that I know.