Are You Living in Answered Prayer?
Sometimes we miss it, don’t we? We get so caught up in our asking; in thinking about what’s next, that we forget to notice the answers we’ve already received.
The other day as I once again spent time with my Father thinking about things I "needed," I realized how much had already been answered. How much I was already living in answered prayer. How much I had to be thankful for!
We are living on the road full-time—answered prayer.
We live in a beautiful RV, pulled by a powerful truck that carries our motorcycle also—answered prayer.
We are traveling across the states which allows us the opportunity to interact with many other people, to share about the good things of God and to encourage and be encouraged by other believers as we go—answered prayer.
I am able to write about these experiences and Jim is able to help me share these messages with others by placing them on the Internet—answered prayer.
We have our health—answered prayer.
Our sons are believers—answered prayer.
God is healing our hearts—answered prayer.
Life is good—answered prayer.
Need I go on? The list could be endless. God hears our
prayers and answers them from the smallest to the greatest. It is proven each
day we live, but sometimes we miss them because we are so busy moving on to the
next "need" in our life and worrying about whether or not God will take care
of what is on the horizon.
How sad is that? Is God frustrated with our lack of appreciation as He works tirelessly taking care of everything that happens in our lives? If not, He should be! I would be!
In Jesus’ final days, he was telling the disciples what was about to happen:
Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit,
and he exclaimed, "The truth is, one
of you will betray me!"
John 13:21
Do we think that God doesn’t suffer when we neglect Him, or forget about Him, or not notice all the help He is providing each day we live on this earth? Jesus was in human form when He made this statement, but He was still our Lord. Maybe we should be more careful how we treat our Father in Heaven? Maybe we should consider how wonderful He is to us instead of moving on so quickly after answered prayer.
I know I should! I know that I have far more to be grateful
for than I have needs in my life. I know that each day we are living right now
on the road is an answer to many prayers and that without the help of God, we
would not be doing what we are doing today. We would not be sitting just outside
of San Antonio, ready to visit the Alamo, having just come from Houston and
having spent time in New Orleans. We would not be sitting here in the comfort of
the home that God has provided for us, warm and safe and dry from the elements.
The weather has turned cold, even here in the south. As I lay my head on my pillow at night and hear the heater go on, I think of the street people we have seen in our travels. I wonder if they are keeping warm at night, if they have a pillow for their heads? God has been so good to us, it doesn’t matter where we park our "home," we are more than comfortable.
It is the strangest feeling to wake up in the morning, wondering just where we are. Sometimes we are in a beautiful State Park close to a beach, sometimes we are in a State Park close to a swamp. Sometimes we are tucked in the corner of a Wal-Mart parking lot, and sometimes we are not so tucked-away in a Wal-Mart parking lot and we hear the cars and trucks pulling in and out all night long. Just the other night we heard a train not so far off in the distance and for whatever reason, that train felt it was necessary to blow its whistle numerous times as it passed close by. But, the thing that I notice most is that wherever we are, we are dry, we are warm and we are comfortable.
When the sun comes up in the morning, it always comes in a
different window. The sights and sounds outside our windows are always changing,
but on the inside, we are home, and we love it. It is answered prayer.
Just today we pulled into San Antonio, Texas. We had had a long day of interviews and travel, and were ready to be "home" for the evening. Soon, we were. We climbed out of our truck, put down our jacks to level our home, put the slide-outs out to increase the interior dimensions of our home, arranged our chairs and a few things around inside, connected the water and electricity provided by this camp outside, and we were set. As Jim came into our "home," he said, "You’ve got this down to a science." We can set up our "home" faster than most people can pull into their garages and unload their groceries and put them away.
We are living in answered prayer because it was not that long ago that we dreamed of being able to do this very thing. We dreamed of traveling and site seeing and serving God as we went along. We dreamed of stepping out and following the paths in life that God would lead us down, and we are doing just that. What once seemed far-reaching has become our reality because God has made it so.
In reading a book tonight called "Making Today Count For Eternity" by Kent Crockett, I read this: "Jesus said that in His Father’s house are many dwelling places, or rooms, which He has prepared for His followers." (John 14:1-3) I thought about the many dwelling places that we are finding as we travel along, the places that God has prepared for us as we follow Him. They are all answered prayers as we pray for His guidance along the way.
This is not to say it is not challenging, as anything is in
life, but it is amazing to watch God prepare these places for us and provide for
us as we move along. Each day as we offer our prayers up to Him, He listens and
He answers and if we did not have grateful hearts, it would be so very wrong.
This last Sunday, we once again attended a new church. It was very different than our beach-house church the week before with about 55 in attendance. This last Sunday, we were in church with about 4,000 people. There were lights and cameras and lots of action, and we heard a great message! After church, we hunted down a Kinko’s because we found out that we could connect to the Internet there. Being the weekend, minutes are unlimited on our cell-phones and the Internet connection was also very fast and efficient--Answered prayer, because little did we know we had some problems with our web site that needed to be taken care of. Four hours later we emerged from Kinko’s to a setting sun, but with our work completed. God had provided what we needed before we even knew our need.
Living in the answered prayer of, "Lead us and guide us each day Lord, as we follow You."
How many times do we move through our days and not notice how easily things come together?
How many times do we take for granted that our problems are taken care of before we even realized we had a problem?
How many times do we think that it is our "good fortune" or by some "strange coincidence" that things just seem to work out?
How many times do we miss the fact that we are living in answered prayer?
Far too many, I think.
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father
and we will be satisfied."
Jesus replied, "Philip, don’t you even
yet know who I am, even after all the
time I have been with you?
John 14:8-9
(I love verses that use the name Philip. I know, I am just
partial to that name, but that’s just the way I am. I even had to take a
picture of St. Philip Street in New Orleans.)
But, back to the message...
Do we miss who Jesus is, even as long as He has been with us? He walks with us each day, we can talk with Him each day and yet we forget so quickly just whom our Helper is. If we have offered up prayers to our God, the least we can do is offer up our thanks when they are answered.
If we have asked for a spouse and we are now married, let’s say "Thank you."
If we have asked for a child, and we now have one or more, let’s say "Thank you."
If we have asked for a job, a home, a friend, or whatever it may be, and we now are enjoying those answered prayers, let’s remember to say "Thank you."
If we have asked for something and the answer has been "No," we can still say "Thank you," trusting that God knows what is best for our lives.
Each morning I wake up in our new "home" on wheels, I
wake up sort of foggy. I am not a morning person!! I wake up and wonder, where
am I? I lift up the shade and glance out at a new tree, or a new parking lot, or
a new lake and I try to get a fix on which way the sun has come. I like it best
when it is shining right into my window, because I love the bright sunshine!
After I get a fix on our new surroundings, I usually make
my way out into the main part of our RV to get a cup of coffee to take back into
bed with me and say, "Good morning" to my Father. As He and I spend those
first moments of the day together, I start to realize just how much we are
living in answered prayers said not too long ago. I start to realize just how
grateful I need to be, and I also realize how focused we must remain if we are
to enjoy the gift that Jesus left us with:
"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives.
So don’t be troubled or afraid."
John 14:27
Because, life on the road is not all easy--it is challenging, and it changes every day, and we have a lot of "hello’s" and a lot of "good-byes" to say and a lot of unknowns to face. It can be filled with fear and we are not free of troubles. It is real life, and it is a new way of life for us, but it is not without prayer and it is not without answers to those prayers. Peace of mind and heart are contained in those answers, and they are wonderful gifts that we are grateful for.
Tomorrow, we will venture out once again, and probably visit the Alamo here in Texas. We have never been there, and barring the rain, it should be another great experience! Then we will return to our "home" later in the day and probably take care of a little business--work out of our home like a lot of people do, ours just happens to have wheels attached. And when our time here is finished, we will hitch up our RV to our truck and move onto the next dwelling place that God is calling us to and see what He has prepared for us there.
As we talked over future plans today and future job opportunities, we did not have many answers but we were sure of one thing--God has brought us this far, and God will continue to guide us as we go if we will always give Him our attention and seek His ways in all that we do each day.
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me
is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise
and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse,
because it is built on rock."
Matthew 7:24-25
In Mr. Crockett’s book he writes:
"The foundation is the most important stage of construction. Everything else is built upon it. A house with a faulty foundation is destined for an inevitable collapse. (Matt. 7:26)
Some people build on the shaky foundation of self-sufficiency. Others structure their lives on worldly success, sexual pleasure, or false religions. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he becomes the sure foundation on which we build our lives. Without Him as our foundation, all our works will come tumbling down."
Nothing is set in concrete here since we live in an RV, Residential Vehicle, but our foundation is secure. We may travel on rubber tires, but it is as solid as a rock and we have nothing to fear with Jesus Christ as our foundation.
When we are tired at the end of a long day, we have a wonderful home to relax in and a comfortable bed to lay our heads down in. When the winds come and the rains fall, we are dry and warm with plenty of food in the fridge. We have the opportunity to meet new people, to see new things and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever we go in this free county.
We are living in answered prayer and we are grateful for all that God provides for us each day along the way. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, and we don’t know what paths God will take us down in future days and weeks and months, but we do know that His plans will be what is best for us even if we don’t understand it while we are on this earth. We never would have chosen for our son to be living in heaven now, but we know that God knew what was best. We know that He is using it for good, and that it was not meant to harm us, but to give us hope and a future. He is doing just that, and we thank Him!
Living in His peace and joy,
Jim and Diane
