08-06-08

Time flies. Or so they say. And they must be right because we are ankle deep into August, Jessie goes back to OU this Saturday, Christmas is once again going to be sooner rather than later and I haven't blogged since July 21st. Sigh.
There has been a lot going on, to be sure, but none of it seemed blog worthy until I was reflecting on all God has been doing lately. It's like He is working overtime to make up for lost time. Though I know that's just my perspective, it certainly seems to be the case.
God answers prayer. We all know that. It's in the Bible. We say it, we believe it, we tell others even--or especially-when it seems not to be the case. When God seems silent. Or uninterested. Or sloooooooow to move.
My favorite answers are the ones that come immediately, or at least by the next business day. And that happens quite an eye-popping lot, actually. Though which of us ever gets used to the idea that the immortal, invisible, incomprehensible, completely unique God of all creation moves on our behalf and answers our meager, heart-felt prayers, the cries of our heart, the thoughts in our mind and the passions in our spirit?
I am ever amazed that He sees me sitting in my comfortable antique recliner, in my living room, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and listens attentively to my prayers. Not only does He listen, He moves in the heavens, in circumstances, in people, in situations, to actually answer those prayers! If, like me, you have been a Christian a long time, you sort of expect it, but do we ever get used to it? I must admit that I don't, because when I see that He's moved, that a prayer has been answered, I am always as amazed as I was the first time it ever happened. It makes me weak in the knees. I am constantly embarrassed that my awe hinders my thanks. I stutter.
On the other hand, I'm at the point in my life journey where I have lived long enough to have prayed for years about something without seeing the answer. Inevitably, doubt sets in. Despair. Unbelief. The death knell is resignation. I become resigned to something simply because I can't see what is happening in the unseen realm, therefore I am fooled into thinking God must have put it on the back burner or that nothing is happening!
Oh! Foolish Galatians! Or something like that. It's not true. From the moment the words leave our lips or the thought escapes our mind, God is at work--in us, in others, in circumstances, in every possible area. The God who never faints or grows weary is calling us to do the same. To trust, to believe, to not lose hope, to cast all our cares on Him. We need to fill up those "golden bowls of incense that are the prayers of the saints" that Revelation speaks of twice.
I am saying this because I have been praying for years about something and I am finally seeing God move! I am astonished! Delighted! But I am also a bit disappointed that I ever doubted and fell into to the brier patch of resignation.That I quit praying. Or quit praying with passion.
Truly, is there anything to hard for the Lord? I am learning first hand, having been told and having believed that my entire Christian life--yet still falling into my own version of unbelief-- that there is not.
If God can create everything seen and unseen, if He can name all the stars, if He can take dry, bleached bones and turn them into a living, breathing army, He can do anything I ask. The problem for me, and for many of us I think, is that sometimes it takes time. And the more time it takes, the more apt we are to assume God has chosen not to answer.
But I am here to testify that I am seeing the most amazing and creative answers to prayers I have been yearning and praying for for almost 25 years! God hasn't forgotten. He does hear! He IS able!
So take heart. Seriously. The hardest most difficult thing, the one you have lost faith over, the one you have resigned yourself to and quit praying about. That one. Take to Him again. Ask. Expect. Believe.
He hears.