The pastor at the church we go to has mentioned several times throughout the past year that he would love to get to be in service with his Mom once again. She is getting older and her health isn’t what it used to be. Our pastor lives in Virginia like we do, but his Mom lives in Ohio, and they had to wait for the right time so that she would be able to take that trip. He had been praying for, only the Lord knows how long, to be able to go to church with His Mom again. Then, two weeks ago, God made a way for her to be able to ride down here to Virginia with our pastor. God gave her grace that was sufficient to make the trip down here, and last Sunday evening, to be able to come to church with her son. Not only did she get to go to church with her son once more thus far, but also got to hear her own son preach. I just wanted to share that account with you in case there is something that you’ve been praying about for a long time and it seems like God hasn’t been hearing your prayers. You may be praying for someone to get saved, and you’ve been praying for what feels like decades, or it really has been decades. You may be praying for a prodigal son to return home, or for a wandering daughter to come back. You may be praying for your family to reunite after a grandparent passed away that held everyone together. Whatever the case may be, God is hearing your prayers. I know that my Mom prayed for probably twenty or thirty years for some of our uncles to be saved. One uncle has passed away, and it was not until he was on his deathbed that she knew he would go to heaven, whether he was saved already and came back to God or if he got saved on his deathbed I do not know for sure. In Isaiah it says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9. We don’t always understand why it seems like God takes forever to answer our prayers, but we can rest assured He answers every last one of them in one way or another, and He gives us the strength to carry through with His plan. His answer will not always be the answer that we want, but we know that His answer is best. It is not His will that any should perish, so I know that He wants all people to be saved, although he won’t force anybody. Yet, for the other two examples I gave, for the split family and the prodigal child, the answer may not come how we expect. There may be some hard stretches of road, but God will get you through it. He will give you the grace to endure, and the ability to sow a seed in others during the trials of life. God Bless!
