How God Has Worked in My Life

I don't know how to explain to you, if you don't know Christ, how God has worked in my life, but He has in a very personal and real way. For those of you who do know Christ, you know what it's like to experience Him as a friend, helper, and counselor.

One of the things which continually amaze me is how He answers my prayers, directly and appropriately, every time. I have brazenly asked Him for a variety of things in my life, things I have no right to. I have asked him for a husband, for a career, to be able to travel, for advanced education, for a house, to pay off debt...I will never quite understand how He has been so faithful in giving me what I ask but doesn't always give these things to other people.

God answers prayers differently for different people, I know that, and He has a different plan for each of us. Sometimes we get everything we ask for, and sometimes He says "no" because He has something different and better in mind we don't know about yet, or we have prayed a foolish prayer that he mercifully denies. Sometimes He says, "wait."

But there are a few things I have noticed about how prayer has worked in my life. The Bible says, "you have not because you ask not." I have, as I said above, asked Him directly for lots of things. I trust Him and I try to remember to bring all my needs before Him. Sometimes I think people forget to even ask and they don't know why He hasn't answered them. So I bring all my little, provincial needs to My Lord, and He comforts me and guides me. Like a child, I come to Him, aware He can say "No" but that I can ask for anything.

Secondly, I rest in the knowledge that God Himself gave me my desires and interests and has a purpose for me. He will not leave me without tools to accomplish His will! So when I ask for things to take care of my family and succeed in ministry, I believe He will give me what I need to do it, and He does! I am not asking selfishly, I am asking in order to accomplish His purposes, and I am blessed along the way because He is so merciful.

Thirdly,  I've profoundly felt the prayers of others in my life. My life has been a CAKEWALK in comparison to most people on this spinning globe, and the only thing I can really attribute that to is that before I was born and before I was old enough to pray, and even today, people have been praying for me. My parents prayed for their future children before we were even conceived, and I have been immersed in prayer ever since. God hears the prayers of the saints, and I know I have been protected and blessed, not due to my own righteousness, but because God has lovingly answered the prayers of his faithful people for me. I have walked through this world clothed in peace because of their prayers. Likewise, I hope to be a prayer warrior for my children, family, and the people who I encounter to continue to pass along His blessings which I have been so grateful to receive and He has given me the eyes to see.

None of this means I am immune to illness, or that God doesn't sometimes allow trials and pain to come to people who pray or are prayed for! After all, Jesus tells us "in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." God has a purpose in His actions bigger than our comprehension. I have not always received what I have asked for when I asked for it, and that is part of His goodness, too, and I know I will not escape trouble in this life. But there is such joy in knowing that My Heavenly King hears my cries!

What about you? How has the Almighty God worked in your life?