God Hears Our Prayers
But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer … -- Psalm 66:19-20a
Does God hear our prayers? Do we ever cause God to change His mind? Do multitudes seeking His hand, His healing, His guidance, cause Him to act? I believe God does hear our prayers and sometimes, according to His will, He does what we ask.
God loves us. It’s important to remember that. And to remember that when we love someone, we want good things for that person. So God loves us and wants good things for us.
Unfortunately, we are sinners living in a fallen world. And we have free choice to make really bad mistakes sometimes. Those mistakes -- whether ours or someone else’s mistakes -- can cost us so much. We cry out to God. He hears our prayers. He loves us. He wants good things for us. But will He fix our broken lives?
Other times bad things just happen. Like an illness. I and many thousands of others have been praying for a little girl named Karlie. She is a miracle. It’s horrible to even imagine what she has been through as her little girl body fights to live. She has endured surgeries and infections and tests and all types of pain. And yet today her family posted a photo showing her playing “tea party” in her hospital bed. A miracle indeed.
So did God always plan to heal this little angel? Does He plan for her to grow strong and leave the hospital and thrive into adulthood? Or did God decide to heal her because of the many prayers and strong faith of her family? We may never know.
A good friend had a horrible motorcycle accident last October. She suffered a severed artery and vein in her leg. Surgeons expected to amputate her leg. Guess what? She’s still got her leg and she’s going to be just fine.
The call about her accident came in the middle of a ladies bible study. The DVD was stopped and the group prayed for her. She was on her way to the hospital at the time. The church happened to be hosting a fall festival. Word spread. Prayers went up. Again and again through the night her family and friends, strangers and others, prayed for her healing. Did God always plan to save her life and her leg? Or did God save her leg and her life because of the prayers of so many? We may never know.
God’s will and His way is just so very far above what we know. He has a plan and sometimes He takes horrible things and turns them into something wonderful. Sometimes He lets us suffer from our mistakes. Sometimes He saves us and heals us.
I have no idea how God decides. But I do know that God hears us. He loves and cares for us. He wants good things for us. And sometimes God acts according to our prayers.
Thank you, God, for your tender mercies on us. Thank you, God, for your miracles and for your Presence in the midst of our fallen world.
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