Praying for someone?

Though I don't have a partner yet, still, I want to share to you these factors that I've learned from what I read, I heard, and I saw about praying for someone to be your lifetime partner.

Let's start off with a question of "How do we pray?" I admit that when I pray for someone, though I am saying that I am praying for a guy I haven't seen yet, someone existing in my life would popped up in my mind and think that maybe, he could be that someone I am praying for. 

I am specifically praying to God that I want my life partner to be tall, (handsome), and owns a good smile. But what I really want for my lifetime partner to possess is being a God-follower, God-fearing, lover of Christ, musician and loves music as he offers it to the Lord, and lastly, someone who will love me as I love him. 

For the past four years that I've been praying for this qualities of a guy, I've seen few guy who accidentally came into my life who posses those qualities, like exactly! Meeting them changed my perspective. At some point, I prayed for them specifically. Telling God that this guy that I met has the qualities that I want for a guy and asking Him if he is the one. Then I realized that what I am doing is totally wrong! I've been compromising my love to someone I'm praying for whom I haven't met. 

Next, "How should we pray?" Praying for someone should be the other way around. More than we spill out to the Lord our heart's desire, we should seek more of God's heart. Just recently, I felt how God is changing my perspective in praying for someone. Yes, as we delight ourselves to the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) But it is more important that we seek first His heart, His righteousness, His Kingdom, and all of these things shall be added unto us (Matthew 6:33) 

Specifically, one should pray for God's perfect will. Pray for your future partner's heart to be molded into someone who is right. Pray for his future plans, pray for God's plan for his life. Pray for his relationship with the Lord. Also pray that he will keep his purity as you keep yours. Of course, as you pray, pray for yourself to be someone right for the guy you are praying for or for the one that God's created just for you. Pray for your relationship with the Lord, be lost in God's presence. 

It's amazing how God's transformed my prayer into something that longs to have the same heart with Him. As I pray, I never knew that God would give this desire to patiently wait for His will despite of all the doubts, heartaches, and pain that I've been through. That He would actually tell me to wait upon the His perfect will even though at some point in my life, few guys would come into my life and they possess the exact qualities that I am praying for and they would give me a heartache thinking if he is the one. But no, this is my will, not His. As we grow closer to God, He will shift our heart's desire and the things that we thought we need the most - to His heart's desire.

Finally, it may take time to meet the one, but waiting is such a short time for someone who is patiently waiting.