I would love to have the faith of Mary Magdalane.  It was simple and not complicated, but direct and genuine.  She was more eager to believe and obey then to understand everything.

I find myself, all too often, praying for understanding.  Trying to understand why I am in the situation I am in; trying to understand why I have been so sick; trying to understand what purpose this trial has in the greater scheme of things; and so on.  I should really be praying for His strength to get through the trials and to simply obey,  As a friend wrote - Obeying the Lord is the way to be good without even trying.  God asks of us only two things - believe and obey.  If I have the believing down, why can't I just obey?

I will be changing my prayers; not to understand but for help in obeying.  I think this will lead me to a life of understanding.

This one's a little long, but very good.  It is taken from a devotional by Barbara Johnson.

Diamond Dust A man was walking down the street when he passed a jewelry store. He stopped to admire some of the lovely pieces when he noticed the jeweler was preparing some stones. He watched him take uncut diamonds, which are yellow and quite unattractive, and place them in a machine. When they came out of the process the machine put them through, they were perfect, priceless diamonds. This intrigued the man, and he entered the shop to inquire about this “magical”machine. The jeweler replied, “No, it’s not the machine that works the ‘magic,’it’s what’s in the machine: diamond dust. Only diamond dust can remove the ugly outer film of each uncut stone to allow the gem’s brilliance to shine through.”When I heard that outlandish little story, I was transported back to a walk Bill and I took on the beach with some friends who own a cabin on the rugged coast of Maine. As we strolled along the shore, instead of fine sand we saw stones the size of tennis balls and others as large as basketballs. Yet they were all nearly perfectly rounded and smooth. The waves of the wild sea had transformed the once-jagged rocks into fine objects of beauty and wonder. God works his outlandish “magic”on us in a similar way. Through the storms of life he transforms us into folks who are shaped in the likeness of his Son, who reflect his glory and shine like the precious gems he knows lie beneath what is unattractive in our appearance and behavior. We may wish for life’s seas to be calm so we can live undisturbed, but God loves us too much to simply “leave us alone.”When he sees our rough edges, he acts to remove them so we can become and enjoy exactly who we were created to be: his precious, beautiful jewels. I know that if you’re being tossed in the surf of life right now, these words can sound hollow rather than helpful. But that’s why God has given us each other as we endure the storms of life: so we can “borrow”from each other’s spiritual bank accounts of experience, hope, and faith when we’re running low ourselves. Please, feel free to borrow from me! And from the many people who have walked the rocky shore before us. The apostle Paul told us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”(Rom. 12:12). Sometimes the only way to do that is to simply “set our jaw”and continue trusting that God is here helping us, molding us, working his magic, despite what seems scary or bizarre about the process. When we put ourselves under his care, trusting that nothing can come into our lives except through his filter of perfect love and wisdom, then we can be joyful, hopeful, faithful…and ultimately transformed. Does that mean we’ll have no whirlwind emotions through all of this? Of course not. Human beings naturally become scared, angry, even ugly when they don’t have control of what’s going on in their lives. Even the most spiritually mature don’t say, “Whatever, Lord!”without a few glitches now and then. But God can handle our thrashing about in fear and frustration, our crazy behavior when we don’t get our way, even our fury at him when we’re in pain and asking, why? Madeleine L’Engle tells the story of one of her children when he was a toddler. [He] used to rush at me when he had been naughty, and beat against me, and what he wanted by this monstrous behavior was an affirmation of love. And I would put my arms around him and hold him very tight until the dragon was gone and the loving small boy was returned. So God does with me. I strike against him in pain and fear and he holds me under the shadow of his wings. That little snapshot of the infinitely loving, patient, compassionate, protective God of ours encourages me to take my “dragony”self straight into his presence when I am the most afraid and, therefore, the most in need of love. As Paul says in Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”So if you’re going through a stormy time in your life, realize with gratitude that our all-wise, loving Father hasn’t deserted you. He isn’t allowing you to be tossed about like those rocks on the shore of Maine for no reason. He is working with awesome skill to smooth your rough edges and bring forth from your soul the brilliant loveliness of Christ, “so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed”(1 Peter 4:13). And meanwhile, the doors to his throne room are wide open to you. You can run to him any time, even beat on his chest in fear and fury, and he will hold you close until the dragon is gone and the lovely woman returns. He will sprinkle you with diamond dust until you sparkle with his loveliness. Now that’s outlandish! Joy is not the absence of suffering but the presence of God.

Thank you Barbara Johnson for your wise words.