A few years ago my friend Kim got really angry at God because someone close to her died. She had even stopped praying. But she still kept up the good Christian-girl facade. One day she went to a new church service with some people she didn’t know very well. Though the service was remarkably boring, Kim was furiously journaling. She’d never prayed for something tangible before, but that day she felt led to pray, God, I just really need to know you love me. After the service one of the people she came with asked if she could talk to her. She seemed very uncomfortable as she said, “I never do this, and I don’t know why I feel so strongly today, but I feel like God wanted me to tell you He loves you.”
Once, while praying, my friend Kevin saw a vision of him putting his hand on a certain non-believing coworker and praying for her. They work in a room with five or six people, and it would be incredibly awkward if he prayed for her when everyone was around. So he prayed, Give me an opening if you want me to do it. A couple days later, he overheard enough of a conversation to know his coworker felt her marriage was ending. The next day everybody else got called out of the room, and she started weeping, saying, “Kevin my life is over.” Kevin recognized his opening and prayed for her.
Here’s one of mine: My dad and I are really different, and it’s made our relationship very hard at times. Plus we live a thousand miles apart. I longed for restoration and more closeness between us, so I started praying about how to go about that. Then three things lined up: First, my dad actually invited me to come home for an extended period. Second, someone very close made an out-of-the blue recommendation I go home for a significant amount of time. And third, I had a dream in which my deceased mother revealed some issues I needed to resolve in my family.
The night before I was planning on buying a ticket home, I prayed and asked for a word from God to make sure this was the right thing. I let my Bible fall open, and my eyes landed on a specific passage: “Your sons hasten back … all your sons gather and come to you”(Isaiah 49:17-18, NIV). There was my answer: I would go back to be with my dad. But then I kept reading. That chapter also says though He restores relationships between parents and children, only God is able to provide the deepest healing. And that truth guided my thoughts as I flew home and spent a month building deeper relationship with my dad.
Our God is a mysterious and clever God. He meets us in our need, and He uses us to meet the needs of others. He speaks to us and guides us in many different ways, and we’ll probably miss His voice if we aren’t listening. But when we do hear Him, it can change lives.
Tell us little (or big!) ways God has worked in your life. How did He help pull you out of a really hard time? How has he helped you navigate tough choices or situations? How has God revealed His presence, love and beauty to you? He is the ultimate story maker, so let’s share our God stories with each other.
