Answered Prayer

*Editor's note: This published before I was finished. Oops. You might want to read it again for the whole story. :)

For too long I lived with only knowledge of the things I knew God could do. I never experienced them personally. As a teenager, I remember poring over books and biographies about George Muller's life, and thinking how nice it would be to just pray for something, fully expect my prayer to be answered immediately, and then see it happen as a matter of course. How awesome that would be!

My thoughts were always in the past tense. Those books might as well have been fairy tales. It was as if God had somehow changed in the interceding time between his life and mine.

While I wanted to believe that I could experience great answers to prayer I had zero faith that I would ever see anything like he did. I was unworthy of that. I had no right to expect God to answer my prayers. It was guaranteed that there would be something in my life at any given moment that would render me ineligible to receive answers to prayer. I was so focused on myself, my worthiness, my goodness, my ability to pray effectively or ineffectively as the case may be, that I overlooked what prayer is really all about.

Him.

His worthiness, His goodness, His almighty ability.

I experienced small, relatively insignificant answers to prayer for several years. Getting to do something or go someplace I had my heart set on, but didn't have any reason to believe would come to pass; passing a test at college; not being afraid of the dark. Things like that. It wasn't until I was twenty-five years old that I was ready to see God do something great.

My marriage had hit rock bottom. One day I realized that if things didn't change I was on the fast-track to divorce. Josh was really late getting home one night, when, sick with worry, I begged God to save my marriage, and restore to me the man I thought I had married. I remember being on my bed crying my heart out, pounding my pillow with my fists saying over and over, "This is NOT my life. This cannot be happening. God you have to help me! I can't do this. I WON'T live like this anymore!" I poured my heart out to God that night, confessed the sin of my pride, which ironically was a big motivating factor in my NOT pursuing a divorce, and told God to do whatever it took to bring my husband back to Him. Even if it meant taking me out of the way.

As He so often does, He answered my prayer abundantly, but in a way I never would have imagined. He took me "out of the way" by giving me a submissive heart to Josh. Prayer for him became like breathing to me. It was constant, even in my dreams. It was the first thought I had upon waking, and my last conscious thought at night. Everything I did was with the purpose of winning my husband's heart back to God, by His grace and for His glory alone. I made sure I read my Bible when he wouldn't see me, and I stopped going to church when I knew he would rather I stay at home. I rested in the fact that I knew I was honoring God by honoring my husband despite everything I had heard to the contrary for years and years.

From then on out, God has opened the windows of heaven and rained down not only blessings on my marriage, but also answers to prayer that are inexplicable aside from being supernatural.

The following in particular stand out in my mind, but they are only a very few of many:

~After one of my pregnancies, demonic oppression was a regular and very real occurrence in our lives. Josh and I both saw demonic beings with our own eyes, and fought them both physically and spiritually. We learned so much through these experiences that have clarified many things since. Spiritual warfare is real, and although the devil knows he is a defeated foe, he is more than ready and willing to hit below the belt, taking a gamble on our not being fully convinced of the fact. Through prayers of faith, God gave us the victory not only over the oppression itself, but also over the fear. To God's glory we have received complete deliverance.

~Last year my parent's were on trial for conspiracy to defraud a government agency. During that time we received more answers to prayer on a daily basis than at any given time before or since. The spiritual warfare was tangible in the court building. From the moment we walked in until the moment we left the presence of evil was unbelievably stifling and real. Against all odds, and in many ways man would never see, God gave us victory. You can read more under my "Trial" category. We serve a Great and Mighty God! Our human minds cannot even conceive the vast goodness of God!

~Two years ago we began to pray that God would bless our family life and our finances without Josh having to work more than forty hours a week; freeing him up to be more involved in parenting and to serve at church. God blew us away with His answers! So much so that we had the privilege of being tools He used to send another family on a desperately needed vacation that He opened every door for, but one that Josh and I had no desire to take. It was planned in detail only God could orchestrate ~ all they had to do was get in their car and go. The blessings from that became a rippling effect that touched many people!

~In January I should have contracted tetanus from kneeling on a carpeting tack strip in a room that multiple cats belonging to previous owners once used as a bathroom. I would be so overcome by fear of the disease and the twinges of symptoms that I would alternate between hot and cold flashes by the minute. For two weeks I had to force myself to remember that fear is not faith. I told the Lord, out loud and often, for my own benefit ;), that I was trusting in Him for deliverance, and that I was going to seek His healing first before resorting to a doctor fully knowing that He could heal me and trusting that He would. He did. Shortly before this incident Alia got a terrible gash on her ankle from a nail. She had the same symptoms that I did, but didn't contract tetanus either. Praise God!

I could share many more, especially having to do with finances, but I'll save those for another day. I will say though, that when you are faithful to God, He is more than faithful to you. Not once has He ever let us down in providing for our needs, and more often than not has provided for our wants, too. :) One of the things I love most about Him is His ability and joyful willingness to give exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think! Remember, if you don't expect great things from God, you probably won't get them.

The fact is, God hasn't changed. He is still in the prayer-hearing, prayer-answering, miracle working business. My life is a testimony of that fact. And how eternally grateful I am! I am not special. God answered my prayers because He can, because He is good, and because He gave me the grace to believe that He would. I've heard some preachers say that "God always answers prayer. He either says 'yes', 'no', or 'wait.'" I disagree with that. God hasn't answered your prayer unless He has answered "Yes!" In John R. Rice's words "Prayer is asking and the answer to prayer is having!" Don't claim to have an answer until you get what you have prayed for. If your prayers aren't being answered, evaluate your heart and life and find out why. Pray and ask God to show you. He will.

Each of us have things in our life that we can't handle on our own. God sees to that so that we will have to rely on Him. Everything that God allows into our lives has a purpose. While that purpose is often multi-faceted, it all stems from one purpose in particular ~ that of strengthening our faith.

I've heard the illustration that the strengthening of our faith is like exercising our muscles. Our faith muscles will not grow strong without regular stretching. God pushes us a little farther each time to stretch our faith. We say, "God, I know you answered last time, and I thank you for that, but I don't know that it's your will<---(a sure sign of lack of faith) to answer this one." Then, often despite our lack of faith, He does answer, and our faith is strengthened further still. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have he perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

"Faith is not believing that God can ~ it is KNOWING that He will!"

"Patience is quietly waiting for as long as it takes to receive what you are hoping for."

God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He wants nothing more than to answer your prayers. He's right where He's always been, just waiting to hear your voice.

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3