Answered Prayers

February 1, 2017

Day 32:  A Prayer For Others May Be An Answer To Yours:
"The Lord listened to Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people." —2 Chronicles 30:20

Dr. Anderson shares a story about a man named Gerard who was a soldier in Iraq.  Gerard lost both of his legs and when Dr. Anderson first met him to become his primary care physician, Gerard was "vacant and despondent."  Many people prayed for Gerard. "Week after week [Dr. Anderson] watched as Gerard gained physical strength and seemed to reengage mentally and emotionally with the world around him." One day, when Gerard came in for an appointment, he walked in on "brand-new prosthetic legs...On his arm was an attractive young woman."  She was his fiancee.  Gerard told Dr. Anderson, "A lot of people prayed for me over the past two years, and Emily [his fiancee] was one of them."

The romantic in me finds this story particularly touching. I need stories like this to remind me of the power of prayer. Anderson ends today's entry with the recommendation that we do not give up praying for others. "Though it may take months—or years—to see an answer, what a blessing it is when it happens!"

It's so true and the blessing is not only for the person for whom we have been praying, but for ourselves as well. It's encouraging to our souls to see answered prayers and I believe it strengthens our relationship with God.

Prayers of mine that God has answered:
He blessed me with a child
He blessed Kevin with the chance to become a full time writer (New York Times Best Seller)
He blessed us financially
Because of our financial blessing, we now live in Colorado
We were able to enroll Levi in Niwot High School, the best school in our area
Niwot has been incredibly helpful and accepting of Levi as a transgender student
My step-brother Glen has mended his relationship with his father, Bob  (a long-standing prayer)
God protected Manly during his surgery (I was so scared to lose him like I had my dog Emily)

There are so many really, both spoken and unspoken, but the one that I think is overall best for me is the one he answered at the start of this January.  He helped me find a way back to Him.