Prayer

Sunday's sermon was about prayer, specifically does God answer every prayer. That is a tough question. I have heard it said that God does answer every prayer, but the answer is either "yes," "no," or "maybe later." I don't often wonder if my prayer has been answered, but how it has been answered. I don't think I always have the ears to hear and understand what God says. Sometimes, though, it is clear. My mother tells a story about a Sunday evening that she was headed home after church. She felt like she should call a particular person and ask him to consider the preaching position at her church. When she called, the man was stunned. He had asked God to give him a sign about what to do by Sunday night. He felt that God answered through my mother's call. When we lived in Abilene, TX I once had God speak to me. Whether it was God or an angel messenger, I don't know for sure, but it was very disconcerting and scary. The message wasn't that scary, but to receive it that way was. In fact, I asked God never to speak to me that way again. Sometimes I regret that prayer! So now God speaks to me in quieter ways. A couple of months ago, on a trip to WV, I had lunch with some old friends. Before I left them, the man adamantly said that he felt like I should write. He reads my blog, and he felt like I needed to do something with my writings. I put it down to a sweet friend being encouraging. But the longer I thought about it, the more unsure I was about the intention. You see, on the way to WV I had been praying that God would "give me a sign" about what to do. I was starting to feel that WVU wasn't the right place for me, and I wanted to know what to do. Of course, I was thinking more along the lines of "Is there a better school?" Then when I got back to NC, I found NC State's program in Policy Analysis and was sure that that was for me. As I researched the program, I was frustrated to find out that I can't enter until next school year- 2010. So what do I do with this year left "empty"? Then I remembered that I had originally thought- over a year ago- that perhaps I should try writing for a year and see where it leads me. And suddenly my friend's encouraging words came to mind. Was that God's answer? I emailed my friend and asked him if he thought that perhaps he could be an unsuspecting mouhtpiece for God, or was he just being a very kind friend. Here is his response: I do not pretend to know if I was “an unsuspecting mouthpiece for God” but it was more than “just a remark of good will.” Although it certainly was “friendly encouragement” it was more than “just” that. I read your blog sometimes and sincerely think that it is worthy of publication. I am not much of a critic of writing from an academic viewpoint but your writing is thought provoking and connects with me so I think that others would enjoy it also. Your writing reminds me of Annie Dillard; it has nature, spirituality, and human interest all contemplated with sympathy and humor. God knows me well, and He knew this statement alone would not be enough to convince me, so He had my friend use the name Annie Dillard. You see, Hubby had purchased a book for me for our vacation. The author? Annie Dillard. I had never read anything by her, nor even heard of her before. And if that wasn't enough, while I was working at Give 2 the Troops yesterday, I came upon her again in some donated books. Also while I was in WV last week, I had a meeting with my advisor. We were able to really discuss my passions and intentions, and she was so sweet and kind. She told me that she didn't feel like I should be at WVU. It wasn't that she didn't think I was Good Enough, but just that it would be better for me in the long run to try a different program. So Hubby and I feel like God has made known to us that I need to write this year. The plan is that I will schedule 3 evenings a week to spend 2-3 hours writing. I will start with Hubby's sermon series on the Holy Spirit from last year. It will be a collaboration. The thought here being that Hubby needs to work on getting some things published, and I need some practice writing. I will also start writing some short articles of my own and see what happens there. This new "work schedule" will start for me when we get back from vacation in early August. So does God answer prayers? Yes, no, maybe, but sometimes it is "Hey! You! Pay attention here!"