"Does God really hear my prayers?" I think this is a question that many Christians encounter. We sometimes think that just because things don't happen exactly as we planned or the way we prayed for, God doesn't hear us. But I promise you that He does hear our prayers. He always answers them too. It may not always be with a "yes." He also answers with a "not yet," or even a "no, that's not the best thing for you right now." I have had many personal prayers that were answered with a "no." Two examples are like when my Nana and my uncle (more like great uncle or something like that) got sick. I prayed that God would heal them but He answered in a very different way than I had hoped. They both died, but in a way, God healed them both in a better way than was possible here on earth. I am so excited to see them again someday. So, in a way, that wasn't a "no"- it was a "yes". He healed them both and they are more happy than they could have ever been here.
He has also answered with a "yes." As He is growing me nearer to Him, my desires are beginning to conform to His. But in the past, I received one of my favorite answers ever so I'll share that one first. When I was 4 or 5 I clearly remember kneeling in the doorway and praying for a baby sister. But, even there, as a 5 year old, God heard my prayer. He said "yes". To this day I have never regretted that prayer, and boy am I glad He said "yes!" I absolutely love my little sister (I love both actually, but I'm talking about my littlest sister right now).
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| Church friends |
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| Neighborhood friends |
I've already talked about my new friends at church and in the neighborhood so I'll just remind you that those prayers... and tears... were answered with a "yes." There were also the prayers about Jacobo and Sergio, whom I mentioned in the last post, and prayers for a 14 year old girl (I'll cover that in the next post) that were answered with a big fat YES. Today though, God answered our prayers for Charlie, a friend here, who we didn't know if he was a Christian or not. Today my dad and two translators, Geovanni and Marbin (Geovanni accepted Christ last week while working as a translator on a mission trip with my dad), met with him (Charlie) and shared the Gospel. We prayed for him as they were meeting and he accepted Christ! On the way home tonight, my dad, who was taking an Uber, shared the Gospel with the driver who began crying and accepted Christ! He was trained in how to share the Gospel with other people and hopefully will meet with my dad later this week.
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| Geovanni is far left, Marvin is in the center with the gray hat and sweater. Dany is in the black sweater next to Marvin |
God has also answered with "not yet" many times. "Not yet" may hurt sometimes, like when I prayed that God would give me friends after we moved. He said, "not yet, I'm using this to grow your relationship with Me." He has now given me many friends (most of the people reading this are part of that "yes").
God always hears our prayers and He cares for us. God always, ALWAYS answers prayers. Just because He says "no" doesn't mean that He doesn't hear you. He hears and He knows what's best. I hope this inspires you to pray and keep your eyes open for answers whether or not they are what you had hoped.
