By Janette Young
This amazing lady is Callie and Marissa’s grandmother. This blog is taken from the Prayer Devotional. These stories she tells of God’s provision are priceless!
…continuing instant in prayer; Romans 12:12b
Many times, we pray about daily situations in our lives, simply trusting that God will handle them. Sometimes, when we know what is going on, we will even try to “help” God answer the prayer. But sometimes you do not know what is going on, and you hear God say, “Pray!”
No doubt this has happened to you. I am reminded of two incidents in my life when God used my prayers to shelter and protect those I love when I didn’t know the circumstances.
When my daughter and son-in-law were missionaries in South Africa, it was an exciting yet scary time for me as a mother. When they first arrived in the country, they found a beautiful farmhouse complete with a caretaker that was included in the rent! It was inexpensive and perfect for the children to run and play. However, they were thirty minutes from town and did not have reliable communication available in that area. They were unable to phone or email us and let us know they had settled in. As the days went on and we heard no news from them, my husband and I got such a heavy burden. We begin to pray for them day and night.
God would sometimes even wake us up in the night to pray for them. This went on for over a week.
Finally, we heard from them! They had decided to move into another house in the city so they could be close to the people they were working with. They had enjoyed living on the farm because everything seemed so “safe” away from the city. What we did not know was that while God was using us to pray for them for wisdom and safety, God was granting them just that. One day right before they moved, the caretaker showed them a deadly black mamba he had killed under the tree right where the children had just been playing. If they would have been bitten, they would never have made it to the hospital in time. They also learned that the farmers in that area were being targeted and massacred by gangs. Many times, it would be days before their deaths were discovered because of the distance from town and neighbors. God used our prayers to give wisdom and safety when we didn’t even know what was happening.
Another example comes to mind of the time when they were flying home from South Africa. The eighteen-hour flight was going smoothly, and everyone was asleep. Suddenly, in the middle of the flight over the ocean, the plane started jolting and dropping. The turbulence was so rough that they were certain they were about to crash. The pilot even apologized later for the horrible turbulence. They didn’t realize it at the time, but they were flying through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that had just destroyed New Orleans.
It had moved out into the Atlantic Ocean. They flew right into it.
When they arrived home, they told us the story and said they truly thought they were going down that night. They told us that they had even made plans on who would sit beside the children and hold them if the plane started to crash. It was a very frightening story. My husband looked at them and asked, “What time did this happen?” When they told him, he and I looked at each other and started weeping.
God had awakened us at that exact time to pray for them!
When God prompts you to pray, don’t hesitate! He may be using you to be an answer to someone else’s prayer! You may have to wait until you get to Heaven to find out just how God answered your prayer, but whatever you do – don’t ever stop praying!