Answered Prayer

Several months ago the pastor at the church I attend asked us to write down some prayers and miracles we wanted answered.  He said if we would write down our prayers we would find that they would be answered by God.  So I took him up on the challenge and wrote four prayers on post-it notes and put them on the mirror in my bathroom.  My prayers included things that were on my mind at that time.

• A mature relationship with the right woman for my grown son
• The end to my mother's suffering with advanced Alzheimer's
• Employment for my husband
• A financial windfall that would ease our money worries.  

I included all these things in my daily prayers, along with many other prayer items.  Usually I take the 40 minute drive to work every morning and use that time to talk to God about many things that are on my mind.  I also use that time to pray for a safe arrival at work through rush hour traffic. 

So I was looking at my prayer list recently and realized that all of these had been answered.  The answers may not have been what I anticipated but every one of my prayers had a resolution.  So I was wondering, have I found the answer to all my problems.  Just write them down on a piece of paper and turn them over to God?

As a human I find that difficult to do.  I want to use my time worrying and wondering when the answers to my prayers or expected miracles will happen.  Yet I wrote these "requests" down and just kept them in my thoughts and daily prayers and they were answered.

I believe the trick to this is that I did write down my prayers.  In the moving targets of our lives we often find that the prayers of one day are replaced by the problems and issues of the next day, and every day after that.  In writing down my concerns at that time I was able to track them and know that they were answered at some point in the future. 

So I have started to write down prayers and requests in the memo pad in my cell phone.  Now I can add things as they occur and mark off things that are answered.  That allows me to keep a list of prayers and miracles that occur in my life on a daily basis.  Sometimes in my hour of greatest need it is comforting to look at my list and see that God is with me always and does hear when I ask for intercession or a miracle.  It helps me to see that I am not alone in this journey through life. 

Just to cover all my bases I also have written four more prayer requests on post-it notes and put them on the mirror in my bathroom.  I will let you know how those progress.  They are different requests reflecting where my life is now.