Rejected Prayer

Picture this. Five people sitting in circle praying. One at a time each person prayers for a topic. Our topic was lost women. Other groups had lost men and teenagers. As we closed our prayer session I was asked why I didn't prayer for the salvation of the lost.
I said "I didn't feel lead to."
And that was true. I didn't want to prayer for what four other people had just asked for. I prayed for something different. Yes I want them to be saved. More than anything I do. However I want them to be good mothers. I want them to have happy families, to do good in there school, to have a job they love and are good at, to be honest and pure. I want this so that their children are not cold to love. I want them to have the skills that are required to be able to accomplish their goals. I want this so that when they are saved it will pour into their character and they will make for burning hot Christians.
Likewise, just because they are lost does not mean that I cannot pray for them to live happy while they are alive. Why should I not pray for these people to be happy.
When I was new to living with God I used to wonder "Why am I struggling and they are doing so good?" By what standards was I looking at? Not the right ones. I have an eternal gift that some will never have because they will not accept that their ways are not the right ways. That being a good person will get you into Heaven. I am happy with what I have and I am learning to manage what have. Some people do not have these peace in their lives because they do not know how to live.
Young mothers are depressed and making bad choices because they do have the skills to be a good mother. They don't know how to live. Homeless people cannot usually manage money. They don't know how. Battered women do not know how to escape. When people have all this on their minds they cannot carry on daily functions and some find it impossible to focus on the eternal things because they have so much they worry about.
Should they put Christ before these issues? Yes! Do they? Alot do not. So why can I not pray for them to have good, organized, happy lives. Can it hurt? No. I pray that they come to Christ and I also pray that they have fun, families, responsibilities, and the required skills to hold it all together.
The lost need prayer for both. All need salvation, all need peace, all of us need to play a role in that.
Maybe you can do something for them to try to display God's love for them!!! Try mowing that old cranky man's yard. His wound from fighting communist in Vietnam makes it hard on him. That widowed old lady needs her gutters cleaned, the young lady across the street cannot do or afford an oil change.
People every where are screaming HELP! I CANNOT KEEP IT TOGETHER! OH GOD IF YOUR THERE HELP! PLEASE SEND ME SIGN IF YOUR THERE!
You are right across the street looking at her flat tire as she cries because she is late for finals. You see a man walking with his child in the rain with no umbrella. They are calling to God. Is He sending you to help them? What can we do to serve God? Anything is better than nothing. Serving the lost with prayer and little actions here and there is the best way for us to lead them to ask about to God.
I pray that prayer because they need help and they long for hope. When they ask why you gave them that umbrella you can say I think God wanted you to have it.