Crazy Answer to Prayer

Well over a year ago, I asked God to give me a mission to pray for. And by mission, I mean a place where missionaries do stuff, not just a worthy goal. A couple days later, I ran across a story about a mission in Tchad, where the tiny son of a doctor couple was facing a mysterious illness, and the family was asking for prayer.

It took several days of praying for the little boy before realizing that I had also been given exactly what I asked for...a mission. I've prayed for the folks there ever since, sometimes in more general terms, and sometimes in ways that are oddly specific. 

Usually, I have no idea how my prayers are answered. It's not like random missionaries across the world always post on their blogs, "In case some random person in a random place like, say, Montana, was praying for x, y, and z to happen, it just did." I'm ok with that. I don't have to know HOW my prayers are being answered to know THAT they are.

For some time now, one of my specific prayers has been that, if anyone needs to get to the mission hospital, that they will get here. And that if need be, someone will pick them up and carry them there. My happy little mental images included a critically wounded or ill person in the bush, determinedly pushing on toward help, only to fall, helpless, to the ground. All hope seemed gone, when someone, maybe even angels, showed up to gently carry them to life. In answer to prayer. (Insert organ music, and maybe some chimes.)

My happy little mental images did NOT include this: Crazy Pants

Yep, those patients needed to be there. And yep, other people picked them up and carried them right to where they needed to go. God must have smiled as He provided this particular answer. Maybe someday angels will carry someone to the mission just because I asked, but for today, it's just Crazy Pants. Hopefully Olen and Danae are as thankful as I am for this beautiful and funny answer to prayer.

Or maybe they will want me to be more specific next time.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, 

give ear to my supplications: 

in thy faithfulness answer me, 

and in thy righteousness.

Psalm 143:1

Off-Roading in 4WD

For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 

~ Proverbs 3:12

I am off the path a bit, the path of God's best plan. 

If it was just a matter of sinning, it would be so much simpler. If I was drunk (not that I ever would be), I could ask for forgiveness and stop getting drunk. If I'd been gossiping, I could repent and keep my mouth shut. But sometimes life brings us to a fork, and once we've chosen one side or the other, we have to follow it to its end, whether it was the right one or not.

God tried to tell me ahead of time, He really did. He knew what was going to happen, and what I should do.

I've mentioned The Little Voice on my main blog before. It's the quiet prompting of the Spirit in my heart, that I often realize only in retrospect was God trying to get my attention. Once you get a little practice listening to, recognizing, and obeying The Little Voice, God may decide you're ready for a larger test.

It isn't possible to share the details of what occurred. Too many of them aren't mine to make public. I will say that God spoke even more forcefully than usual, through my dear Christian sister-in-law. She said something I'll never forget, that there are good things and God things, and they aren't always the same things. And, faced with a choice between a good thing and a God thing, here I am, bumping along the path of the good thing that God said no to doing. 

Anyone who lives a Godly life will have trials, and in them will also find such joy and peace, because God is with us when He allows tests to come our way. Trials of our own making are much different. The good news is He doesn't abandon us, even when our wrong choices leave us blundering around outside His will. And, though I don't know what bumps are left, or what it will take, I know I'll end up back on the right road again.

In fact, Wednesday I had a startling realization during my prayer time. Even though my current situation wasn't God's best plan, since I'm here, I can start right now, this very second, and step back into His will. There will still be consequences to face, and I'm sure that more than once He'll have to kick on the heavenly 4WD to get me over a hurdle, but I can be where He wants again from this point in time. 

What does He want me to do? I thought about that a lot. Keep studying, keep praying, both for myself and for the others on my prayer list, and keep writing. And start listening a bit better. Ok, a whole lot better. 

No clue how long it will take, but I believe this path will wind around to the right one eventually, as long as I follow the above directions. In the meantime, I have a job to do. Study, pray, write, and listen. That'll keep me busy till I jounce and bounce my way back onto the path of God's will. There will still be bumps, dips, and obstacles, but it's still so much easier and more peaceful than.......

off-roading in 4WD.

A Speedy Answer

Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

~ Isaiah 65:24

It was a long, hard trip through Wal Mart. Due to the oil boom, Williston went from a sleepy city to an overcrowded metropolis almost overnight. Choked with traffic, saltwater trucks, trailers - even squatting in the Wal Mart parking lot itself, it's a major undertaking to navigate the once simple trip.

The exhaustion must have gotten to my traveling companion. To avoid embarrassment, we'll call her "Plom". After already standing in line with me for some time, she left her cart with me and dashed to the restroom. Moments after returning, she grew pale. (If a resident of northern Montana can actually grow any paler this time of year.) "I don't have my wallet." She looked her cart over in 1.7 seconds. "Be right back."

Of course, I immediately began to pray. There was even a neat little section in the Prayer Warriors books where some of our heroes misplaced the wallet with all the money and passports for the entire family, and it was protected by an angel in response to their prayers. "Dear Father, please protect Plom's wallet. Help her to find it, and intact, too, if it's Your will. Oh, and watch over everyone at the mission, and wow those Pillow Pets are cute! That cake pan looks like loads of fun, too. Twenty dollars? Well, not today, but it's still nifty."

Sigh. It's hard to be a prayer warrior in Wal Mart.

Pretty soon, Plom came back. No wallet. "Oh, that's right. Lord, please help her find her wallet, and be with my family, and boy am I ever thirsty. I hope one of the lines has some water in it..." After a couple more trips back and forth to the restroom, I suggested checking the trash cans, in case someone had found it, taken the cash, and dumped the rest. 

While she was gone, I prayed again. That time, I made it all the way to "amen". Turning around toward my cart, I found myself looking down at a familiar object. It took a moment to register. Quickly, I dialed the phone. "Um, Plom, I'm looking at your wallet right now."

"Where was it?????"

"In my cart. Ha ha ha, isn't that funny?"

Plom's heart started again, and her blood pressure sank to something approaching normal. "Yes. Ha ha. If you'd only called 15 seconds sooner, you could have saved me digging in both trash cans."

Not wanting to be one of the 9 ungrateful lepers, I immediately thanked God for answering my prayer. He had indeed posted an honest, reliable person to watch over Plom's wallet from the moment it was lost, till the moment it was found again. A person who would turn it over to the rightful owner as soon as it was found.

I just didn't know He was going to use me!