God answers prayer

Two weeks ago the four of us were at Hubby’s parent’s house.  We had gone over there on Saturday for a wedding, spent the night, and my plan was to head back to Augusta Sunday morning—our youth group had just gotten back from a two-week musical mission trip and I wanted to hear their presentation during the morning service.  But Hubby wanted to stay with his family and go to their church.

I love my husband and he loves me.  Usually when one of us has an opinion on something, such as which church to attend one morning, the other one is okay with that.  But on that particular morning both of us had an opinion and those opinions happened to differ.  That rarely happens.

In my marriage I have made the conscious decision to endorse my husband as head of our household.  It is humbling on my part, but it is easy to do with a man who treasures me and values my opinion.  Never has he lorded over me his role.  And so that morning I deferred to his request because sometimes there has to be a tie-breaker when we both feel strongly about something, and his God-given role gave Hubby the deciding vote.

I lay in bed that morning, feeling a little resentful that we were staying, but understanding that family is important, and if he wanted to stay with his family then I would honor that decision.  But I didn’t want to be angry, you know?  I didn’t want to be pouty that day.  So I lay in bed and prayed to my loving God in heaven, asking that He take away my sadness at not being at our home church but instead blessing the time I had with Hubby and his family.  As I prayed I was confident that God would answer my request because I was honoring His word in obeying my husband, and I knew that He desires to pour out blessings on those who follow Him.

At church that morning the preacher brought with him a friend of his and his wife’s, a woman whose testimony he wanted us to hear.  So an elderly woman walked on stage and calmly told us about her horrendous experience a few years prior.

As she began speaking I felt my body suck in a breath.  I KNEW HER STORY.  When Hubby and I lived in Tulsa I heard her story on the news.   She worked in a vacuum shop and one evening two men came in and attacked her, savagely beat her and tried to kill her.  I remember being shaken by her story.  What kind of evil goes after an elderly woman in such a way?  I remember praying for her, over and over throughout the day and over much of the next year.  As I would drive through her town I would pray for her and her healing.

After the service was over that morning I walked over to that lady, crying a little and overwhelmed by our awesome God.  That morning He allowed me to see the answer to a prayer I prayed years ago, and I got to hug the woman He had blessed and pulled from tragedy.  I am still weepy when I think about it.  And she got to meet me, one of the many faceless people who prayed for her during her recovery.

Right now I am in a Bible study and we are studying the book of Daniel using Beth Moore’s guide.  In the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked through a fire that killed the soldiers who brought them to the furnace, but the three of them came out without a hair singed on their head, without even smelling of fire.

This woman doesn’t smell like fire.  Do you know what I mean?  She is a beautiful and joyful child of God who you could walk by in the grocery store and never imagine the trauma she has been through.  As I talked with her and her husband that morning I saw Jesus’ light bursting through their pores.

That morning God blessed me.  He blesses me every day, but that morning the answers to my prayers were so obvious that I was shaken by them.  And I just had to share.