Unexpected answers to Prayer

Have you ever prayed… and God answered your prayer in a way you didn’t expect? So much so that you completely missed His answer… or almost missed it???

Here´s a little true story I heard. Two 10 year old boys had a pet guinea pig they used to train and play with. They would build ramps and put him in toy cars and race him on the ramps. One day they came up with what they thought was a fun idea…”Let´s make a parachute and attach it to our pet”. So they did and the day came when they climbed up the steps of a high building and decided to see whether their experiment would succeed.

All started well and the parachute held and the guinea pig soared through the air. But then to the boy’s dismay, all of a sudden a gust of wind caught hold of the parachute and guinea pig and drew it of course out of the sight of the boys who were still standing high up in the building looking at the experiment that seemed to have turned into a tragedy. End of story? No!

For a long time a little girl had been nagging to her mum about wanting a pet, but up until now the mother had not given in but had declined her request. “Please, please” she would say. “Any pet will do. A dog, a rabbit, a mouse…even a guinea pig”. No result. The little girl was so disappointed that she started to pray for a pet….

One day while the mum and daughter were out shopping, all of a sudden in the middle of the city the little girl looked up and to her and her mums surprise they saw a guinea pig with a parachute float down and land just a few steps from where they were standing. The little girl shouted “my answer to prayer”. The mother was lost for words and the guinea pig found a new home with a loving not so experimental little girl J

Let me remind you, however amazing this story may have sounded, IT IS A TRUE STORY! Proof: On a late night Swedish radio program, the journalist wanted people to call in and talk about pets and how fun they can be. A man called in and talked about the guinea pig experiment when he was a boy. Soon after that call, a woman called in (the daughter who was now grown up) and told her amazing side of this funny, touching story.

So that’s my little sunshine story for you. What about yours? Have you been praying a prayer that you think God hasn’t been answering? Maybe He has… just in a way that you weren’t looking for. Maybe in a way that’s out-of-the-box. Or in a way that will complicate your life. Or inconvenience you. Spend some time reflecting and see how the Holy Spirit leads you.

As I was writing this blog, a story from author Max Lucado kept coming to mind. It’s along the same lines of what I wrote above. Here it is:

Once there was a man who dared God to speak. Burn the bush like you did for Moses, and I will follow. Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, and I will fight. Still the waves like you did on Galilee, and I will listen.

And so that man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea, and waited for God to speak. And God heard man, so God answered.

He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church. He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin. He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.

And God waited for the man to respond. And He waited… And He waited… And waited.

But because the man was looking for bushes, not hearts; bricks and not lives; seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing.

Finally he looked at God and asked, “Have You lost Your power?” And God looked at him and said, “Have you lost your hearing?”

 

Have a great week and never give up on unexpected answers to prayer!

/Mark

0 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*