“Have you ever prayed very hard for something, and it did not happen the way you wanted?

Perhaps you prayed for healing, but the sickness remained. You prayed for a job, but no door seemed to open. You prayed for a relationship to be saved, but it still fell apart.

Sometimes we even ask, “Lord, are You really listening?”

In today’s Gospel, a leper approaches Jesus. Notice how he prays. He does not say, “Lord, You must heal me.” He does not say, “Lord, why are You allowing this to happen?” Instead, he says something beautiful: “Lord, if You wish, You can make me clean.”

That short prayer teaches us the attitude we should have whenever we come to God.

First, come with faith.

The leper had no doubt that Jesus had the power to heal him. He did not say, “If You can.” He said, “You can.”

Sometimes our prayers are weak because we have already convinced ourselves that nothing will happen.

Faith does not guarantee that God will always say “yes,” but it trusts that God is always able.

Second, come with humility.

The leper did not demand. He surrendered. He placed not only his problem but also his future into God’s hands.

Real prayer is not telling God what to do. Real prayer is trusting that God knows what is best.

Many of us pray like this: “Lord, this is my plan. Please bless it.”

Perhaps we should pray: “Lord, this is my desire. But Your will is wiser than mine.”

Third, come with confidence in His love.

The most touching part of today’s Gospel is not the healing. It is that Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the leper.

Nobody touched lepers in those days. They were feared, rejected, and avoided.

Before Jesus healed his skin, He healed his loneliness.

Sometimes what we need most is not an immediate solution but the assurance that God has not abandoned us. Even when His answer is “wait,” His hand is still holding ours.

There is a beautiful story about a little boy flying a kite.

The kite had gone so high that it disappeared behind the clouds.

A man passing by asked, “How do you know your kite is still there if you can’t see it?”

The boy smiled and said, “Because I can still feel its pull.”

That is faith.

There are moments when we cannot see what God is doing. We cannot understand His plans. We cannot explain His silence.

But if we continue to feel His gentle pull in our hearts—to pray, to hope, to love, to trust—then we know He is still there.

So today, let us pray as the leper did: “Lord, if You wish, You can.”

Not because we have given up, but because we believe that God’s wisdom is greater than ours, His timing is better than ours, and His love for us is deeper than we can ever imagine.”