I've prayed plenty of prayers that haven't been answered in any kind of way that I would recognise, but I've also prayed some that have. Some would say that if you pray enough prayers then - statistically speaking - one of them is bound to get answered eventually. The following is a true story of something that happened to me last weekend. Perhaps it was just a co-incidence or a statistic. What do you think?
Last Saturday I lost my wedding ring. I knew I'd taken it off some time in the morning to do some DIY and I discovered it was missing at about 6pm. I hunted all over the house for it. I thought I'd probably put it in the coins pocket at the front of my jeans, but it wasn't there so I hunted everywhere else I could think of. I also knew the coins pocket wasn't entirely safe... I keep my keys there as well and had noticed previously that when I take the keys out, the ring can occasionally catch on the keys and go flying across the room. I should have stopped putting my ring in that pocket after that... But I hadn't...
I knew I'd taken the keys out three times that day - once to lock the gate that bars my back door so I could leave the door open as I was busy around the house, once more to open the gate again when I decided to close the door a few minutes later because it was colder outside than I had thought, and once when I changed my trousers at the end of the day. I hunted all over the bedroom in case the ring had flown out somewhere. I hunted around the kitchen, near the back door, and even outside in case the ring had flown out the door and into the yard.
My wife also hunted everywhere - she's often better at finding things than I am - but without success. So having looked everywhere either of us could think of, we prayed! I said sorry to God for my negligence in not taking care of the ring more carefully, acknowledged that He knew where it was, and asked Him if He could please show it to us.
Having prayed, we had our evening meal and went out to a friend's house for the evening. On the way back I thought about the ring again, but instead of worrying about it I considered once more that God knew where it was and somehow I felt confident that He would show it to us. As I thought this I felt a brief but re-assuring sense of His presence come very close to me.
As we walked along the back street towards our house - before we even got to the house - Emma happened to look down as something on the ground caught the light from a street light. She bent down, picked it up, looked to see what it was, and was a little shocked to discover that there in her hand was my wedding ring!
I think it comes down to what you believe. A few years ago I had gone to camp for a week and I made special notes on all the services and sermons, it was an amazing week. The notebook was given to me by my counselor so it was very special to me. It was a plain marble notebook. When I came home, I was going to give the notebook to my friend who could not afford the trip to camp, and I knew she needed the messages, they were amazing! But I looked everywhere and it could not be found. I turned my suitcase upside down, even called the camp and asked if they could search and keep an eye open. I prayed so much, as much as I could. She really needed to hear the messages from the services. 2 days passed, and as I was walking back to my house from my cousins, I had an immediate thought to check in my suitcase. I thought to my self, i literally ripped that suitcase apart..there is no way it could be inside there. But I went home looked in the suitcases and checked the outside pockets, and ofcourse..it was right there. :))!! My family believes I did not check properly but i know I did, I had checked everywhere and I humbly believe that God had a huge input in it.
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