Through a Bible plan that I started it was suggested that I download an app called prayminder. This app reminds you to pray “x” amounts of times a day for “x” amounts of things and people. You just set up what time of the day you want and what to pray for. Or set it up however you want.
Doing this has been a game changer! The first day I was at home when it went off. So I told my kids not to interrupt me for a few minutes so that I could pray for that particular thing. I remember praying for marriages. The next time I was reminded it was about the government. After that it was for victims of human trafficking. I can’t tell you how this has changed my life and brought me closer to God in my prayer life.
The next day I stopped to say a prayer at Walmart and PetSmart. It’s really amazing how many opportunities we have to pray but don’t take it. That day I added to my prayer list, people and things that just came to mind. Among that list I added my husband and each of my kids by name, to pray for each one individually. I don’t know about you but when I know, or when someone tells me that they’re praying for me or prayed for me, that’s a good feeling! And I love how I don’t even have to set up an alter, go to a church building or lay a mat to pray. I can just go about my day and talk to God. That’s what prayer really is, just talking to God.
Ever have a prayer answered? It’s an amazing thing! I get so blown away in knowing that the God of the universe hears ME, that he cares for ME. Let me say that again. THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE HEARS ME. When there is so much going on in the world, so many people praying, he hears ME. This has been a big deal to me. I mean, who am I? In this world of billions of people, I’m just me, this nobody in this great, big world that He has created, yet He hears ME!
I want to share with you some of the things I’ve prayed for that he has answered.
First, my house.
I prayed for a 4 bedroom house and at least 2 bathrooms. I wanted a community swimming pool because I didn’t want have to clean one but I love having it available so that I can use it when I want.
Keep in mind that these are things I WANTED, and not necessarily NEEDED. Anyway, if there was no swimming pool available, I wanted a bathtub. I also wanted a particular area and community.
I don’t know how many houses we saw until we found this one. It must’ve been 30. As a former Realtor, that is not funny at all. It’s super frustrating! There were some houses we liked but either it was missing something or our offer wasn’t accepted and we put in only about 3 or 4 offers out of all the places we saw.
Then one day while I was at my old job, a customer whom I hadn’t seen in a while, walked in to the store.
Me: “Hey, how’ve you been? Long time no see.”
Him: “Ya, I’ve been moving.”
Me: “Oh yeah? Are you selling your house?” (He was a customer that hung out at the store almost every night with his friends and drinking coffee. I remember he had told me where he lived.)
Him: “Ya.”
Me: “How much? How many bedrooms?”
He tells me.
I write it down.
I get home and tell my husband.
He says, “For that price, we might as well get a brand new one.”
Okay.
The next morning we go see some houses with the Realtor. Houses we didn’t like. On the way home, we passed by the area of the house my customer was selling.
I tell my husband, “Make a u-turn, let’s go see.”
We go.
Honestly I didn’t expect anything because in my mind he already didn’t like it because of the reaction I got when I first told him about it.
I go in first.
I open the door.
I step inside.
I look around.
Then I hear this, “WOOOOOW!” behind me.
It was coming from the mouth of my husband.
After seeing the whole house and drooling we go out and talk to the lady who is now “my friend’s” wife.
Her: “You like it? You want it? Because if you do I’m going to cancel my appointment with my Realtor right now and not put it on the market.”
Us: “YES! YES!”
She makes a call and cancels her appointment with her Realtor (the poor girl).
We call our loan officer and he tells her how much we’re approved for.
We set up a time and date to meet for signing and 2-1/2 months later, we’re in our house.
Right before the day of the pandemic shutdown.
Friend, God answered alllllll my prayers and then some!
The 4 bedroom house.
2 story. (I didn’t pray for that but it may have been my kids).
2 bathrooms AND A HALF (God gave me more).
The swimming pool AND the bathtub.
AND the EXACT location I wanted!
When I look back at it, God closed all the doors to all those other houses because he knew my heart.
Friend, God wants to please us! He likes to spoil us!
Another answered prayer is my job.
One day out of the blue, my former boss called me to go back to work. He was trying to call back all the former employees because many of them quit as the result of the pandemic. The position was for what we call “TASK” which basically means unloading all the merchandise and getting it out on the floor. I didn’t want that.
As a result, I kept debating whether or not to take the job. After going back and forth with it in my head I finally prayed about it. So one day as I was brushing my hair and looking at myself in the mirror with all this debating, a thought came to me. Some people call this “God talking to you.” I knew it was Him.
What I “heard” was this: “Yes, go to work because there’s someone I want you to reach.”
So I answered out-loud, “Ok God, I will. I’ll go back to work.”
I want to say that the debating stopped but it didn’t because now I was like, “But I don’t want to work in TASK because I’m too old to be rushing around to get things out and pushing heavy carts, but I liked the hours; and I don’t want to work in the front lines because of the hours. I don’t want to be working late at night or weekends.” Because then that would mean that I might miss Wednesday night Bible studies and Sunday morning worship. And I wasn’t about to miss that! AND I only wanted to work 3 days a week; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.
After thinking about it for a few days and turning in my application, I finally sent a text to my would-be boss and said, “Ok I’ll take the job. But I want to work in the front not in TASK. I don’t mind helping in TASK once in a while though. Just not everyday.”
There was a former co-worker that all she did was put things away, or back where it belongs.
So I texted my boss, “What I would REALLY like is to do what Rita’s doing.”
“Okay.” That was it. That was his text back to me.
Well some days went by and I didn’t hear from him. I didn’t know when I would start. I put down “open” in my application.
When he finally called, he was like, “Sorry, I was waiting for your police clearance (required) to come in.”
No problem. I knew it would be clear.
This is the part where I get answered prayer. I went something like this:
Boss: “I know you wanted to work only 3 days a week and you want to do what Rita’s doing but I want to ask you, would you want to work in the Cash Room, doing the banking? Once you learn it, it’ll probably take only about an hour. It’s really easy. It will be 5 days a week but not weekends.”
Me (beaming): “I can do that.”
Boss: “Ok. Another thing is to work on getting the fashion jewelry out on the floor when it comes in. It’s not everyday. Then you can leave once you’re done.”
Me (still beaming): “I can do that.”
Boss: “I know you asked for xxx amount of pay. How about xxx amount (13 cents more).
Me (beaming even more): “I’ll take it!”
So I work in the Cash Room and sometimes put out fashion jewelry.
I work Monday-Friday and I have weekends off.
I make decent money.
I decide my hours; I come and go as I please as long as I do what I need to do for the day.
Again, answered prayer! Again, God heard my heart!
Sometimes we don’t know how he’s going to answer but then we realize later that we just checked off everything we asked for!
God also has a sense of humor. Yup! And sometimes I picture God up there smiling down at me and saying, “You think you know how I’m going to answer but just wait ’til you see!”
Here’s how he answered my friend’s prayer:
She asked for God to “create a pure heart in her”, the prayer David prayed in Psalm 51.10.
She got pregnant. Get it? The baby was the pure heart. 🙂
Sometimes it’s out of need because he always knows what you need.
A friend was so broke and couldn’t buy food.
While walking along the beach, there she found out of nowhere, a nest of eggs.
And sometimes we have to be careful what we pray for.
For example, patience! If you ask for it, you’ll be put in many situations that can help you with that!
I prayed for God to help me forgive. Oh man. I won’t say I regret it because out of that prayer and practice, I no longer hold grudges. Something I struggled with for a very long time but it was hard! But God is faithful and he will always get you through it. He wouldn’t have given it to you in the first place if he thought you couldn’t handle it. That’s biblical. Did you know that? It’s in 1 Corinthians 10.13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” That word “temptation” comes from the Greek word “peirasmos” meaning “adversity”, and “adversity” means difficulties, misfortune. So God will not give you too many difficulties that you won’t be able to handle. He is full of grace and mercy. He knows what’s in you and how much burden you can bear. But in MY small mind, it didn’t play out like that, LOL! I was wanting to forgive past hurts, not add on new ones!
I tell my son who is autistic and has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) how strong he is when he has bad days. I mention this because when he has bad days, it’s really bad! But when I read what others go through, his is mild compared to theirs. Still, God knows his strength. He knows what he can handle. Actually, God IS his strength!
Friend, there are so many other prayers that God answered. This is no coincidence! This is God’s hand moving in my life! And it is not the universe giving it to me. I mean, who made the universe? Isn’t it God? Then why thank the universe? But that’s a whole other blog post which I may or may not get to.
What kinds of prayers will you lift up to the Lord today? I pray that you will lift them up daily and often.
God still moves. God still hears. God still answers. So keep praying!
We need more prayer warriors in the world. There’s so much to pray for!
There is one more thing that I must add.
See, while God answers prayers from “the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5.45), meaning that he blesses and gives material things to, and even performs miracles for everyone, there is one thing that He cannot, will not, answer if you aren’t his child. And that is forgiveness.
Everyone is God’s CREATION but not everyone is his CHILD. A person outside of Christ can’t be forgiven because they are still covered in sin. Forgiveness is a spiritual blessing and it is only granted to God’s children.
Consider your children. Do they come first or does your neighbor’s kids come first? Does your child get special treatment or does your neighbor’s child get special treatment? Do you listen more to your child who is whining or to the one who is obedient? It’s the same thing with God. His children come first and they get special treatment. Not because He has favorites, but because they are obedient.
But don’t run away! There is still hope for you! It is not too late for anyone as long as they are still ALIVE!
God doesn’t care how bad you’ve sinned. He still wants to take you under his wings like a mother hen with her chicks.
He loves you so much. So very, very much!
And he doesn’t want you to perish. Do you know what that word means? It means to suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way. It also means to suffer complete ruin or destruction, to rot or decay.
GOD DOESN’T WANT THAT FOR YOU!
There is still time to obey the Gospel but don’t wait!
No one is promised a tomorrow.
Get your sins washed away and replaced by the Blood Of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.
Here’s how:
The link below is another thing you might want to look into because there are many “well-meaning” people out there, many “sincere and loving” people. But there are also many false prophets and people who will tell you things just to satisfy you or themselves, to get their “numbers” up. Please be careful. Test everything. Read the post below.
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Thank you!
Oh and btw, if you have time check out the things I have for sale in my Ecwid store! Click on “store” on the menu above.
THANKS FOR VISITING!