God’s Creative Answers to Prayer

A sweet friend of mine recently commented that God’s creativity is amazing- not just in nature but in the ways He does things, the ways He answers prayer.

This is a picture of that.

Over the years, I’ve prayed for a mentor. For deep friendships. For opportunities to encourage others in Christ. For my compulsion to write and create to be refined, made useful in God’s hands for his glory. For a nearby Bible study. For genuine conversation and fellowship.

I asked God for these individual requests, never considering He might answer them as one, overlapping, interwoven gift. Has God surprised you like this, too?

Just two years ago even, as I prayed these things…

-I didn’t know I was praying for these women.

-I didn’t have this writing project in mind.

-I would have been shaking so hard at the thought of facilitating a small group study I would have swum to Nineveh, even though I can only dog-paddle.

This creative surprise from God -these dear friends- were absolutely worth the wait and growing pains.

Praise God. This is His grace on display. One precious ebenezer of the way He works things like time, circumstances, place, change, growth, and people into answers to prayers we don’t understand as we utter them.

I miss these living, breathing answers to prayer so much as we’ve moved away. (Though I thank God for video catchups and visits!)

What a gift to remember we all get to spend eternity praising Him together- this has been a sweet taste of what’s to come.

May you be encouraged to keep praying, friends.

Keep obeying and trusting God in the little things that don’t look like they’ll lead to anything.

Keep awkwardly asking people you don’t know if you can get to know them.

Keep telling God what you can’t do, and then stopping to smile when you remember He works through you and in you.

Keep your eyes fixed on Him, and treasure every glimpse of the perfecter of faith and author of all things weaving unexpected beauty into what you didn’t realize He was creating in the first place.

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. “ -Ephesians 1:15-19

Ask someone to get coffee, tea, hot cocoa, whatever your favorite mug-liquid is. Press on when there are awkward lulls because you don’t know each other yet, ask questions, make small talk even if you loathe it, see where being friendly takes you. You might never talk to that person again. You might find in a year that you miss them terribly when you go a month without chatting. Take the chance.

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