Answered Prayer: A Friend Returns to Church

On Sunday I posted about the importance of prayer in my life as of late and my intentions to start writing regularly about those prayers that have been answered. This is the first of those posts, covering a few prayers that have been answered in the last 2-3 weeks. Some answers may seem big while others may come across as “ordinary” but all of them are needs I have brought before God and he has answered.

Timely Encouragement

One of the first answers that sticks out in my mind was when I first started The Battle Plan for Prayer book. My goal was to start waking up earlier so that I could pray before work but as of late waking up on time at all has been a real challenge. It was discouraging to be laying there in bed like an idiot thinking “I need to get up, I need to get up” but not making a move to get out of bed. If you’ve ever dealt with even mild depression, you know what that feels like.

It was a Saturday morning which should have made this easier but no, I was feeling so down that day that I was still in bed around 8am. That’s when I started praying asked God for help. Not with getting out of bed, but rather with persevering. I’ not very reliable or consistent when committing to changes like this and all I wanted was not to give up and I could tell that I was already losing my resolve. Five minutes later I got this text from an acquaintance from church that I don’t normally hear from. He sent me a scripture from Deuteronomy 20 and this message, “not sure what you’re going through, but wanted to encourage and reassure you that we serve a great God who will fight for us and give us victory in Jesus’ name.”

A Healthier Marriage

My wife and I have been concerned about our health for a while, especially because of what we eat and how often we exercise (or don’t). We’ve not had much success with changing our habits and one thing that dawned on me as I was praying for our relationship in general one day was that I wanted us to have good motives and for my wife to find something that worked specifically for her. I never told her about my specific prayers but a few days later (maybe a week?) she found a book she liked with a healthy approach to eating she wanted us to try. It’s only been a week or two but it has been a good start for us both and she’s been really motivated to stay with it.

A Friend Returns to Church

When we first started going to our church I helped with the youth ministry for a few years. One of our church member’s daughter would bring her boyfriend to our Sunday night meetings which is how I first got to know him. Fast forward years later and they are married and expecting their first child (time goes by so fast!). Unfortunately his work for months now has made him unable to attend church with his wife and so I haven’t seen him or talked with him much during that time. His mother-in-law is in my small group and asked that we pray for his schedule to change so that he could start going to church again. I added this to my list and began praying for this change regularly.

Two Sundays ago I was praying for his schedule to change and also that God would give him a mentor (something else I felt he may have needed). I even started to wonder if I would make a good mentor. As I continued to pray I felt very strongly that if he were at church that day that yes, I should start meeting with him as a mentor. That day he was at church for the first time in months.

We were able to catch up on a lot and I hope to start meeting with him soon; he’s going to be busy as a new dad but I remember when my kids were first born how helpful it was to have another dad to talk with about parenting and marriage and following Christ as a daily way of life. One of the first things this young man and I talked about was his job and an opportunity he had with another company. He had gone through a couple interviews already and was preparing for a third so I prayed for that as well. Last week he got the job and I am so happy for him; it’s going to be a better opportunity for him as a new dad.