Answered Prayer

When I was a child, I was taught that when we pray, God can answer us in three ways: YES, NO or WAIT. Then, when I was in my twenties, one of my devotional calendars defined God's answers as : YES, WAIT and instead of NO (which can sound negative), the answer was I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER IN MIND.

Amazingly, because HE IS GOD, many of my prayers have been answered to the "I have something better in mind". I am in awe of how often I ask amist and the way God answers, ends up being better than I could have imagined.

For four years, I have prayed that God would send Whitley a good friend. I friend that would love her unconditionally, that would have high moral standards and that would encourage and edify her. Year after year, I waited and the answer seemed like a NO.

A few months ago, we learned that we have new neighbors. I got excited thinking, "Could this be the girl I've been praying for as a friend for Whit?" Well, I quickly learned that the new neighbors had 3 little boys. However, a few weeks later, the same neighbor called me back and said, "I don't know how this information got mixed up, but the new neighbors I told you about, have a little girl who is going to be 10! They are a strong church family and I was wondering if I could host a tea so you could meet them?"

Uhhh, let me think....YAHHHH!!!!!

Well, that was nearly 5 weeks ago, and since then, Whitley and Rachel have become good friends. They play really well together. The bonus is, that Rachel's Mom and I have become good friends as well! Although Amy (the mom) was born in raised here in CO, she attended Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) the same time I attended ONU (Kankakee, IL). We are the same age and so we really identify as cohorts of the same generation and of the same faith.

Tonight, we visited by phone for a few hours and I shared with her how I was struggling as a parent, that I wrestled with pride and had really been in a valley for over a year now. Lo and behold, she understood perfectly! About 4 years ago, she went through the same valley and wrestled with the same issues. Now she has overcome those challenges by receiving God's grace, mercy, strength and LOVE. She clothes herself in these gifts instead of guilt, shame and self inflicted punishment. In fact, she has come so far, that she has a vengeance of praying against the Enemy of our souls, who robbed her (and I) of so many years of enjoying God's love and goodness. She delighted in praying for me, her compassion and empathy was great, because she has truly "been there". She prayed messages of God's goodness for me like: "I am a much loved child.", and for strength and help to "Renew a right spirit within me."

In those 4 years that my prayers for Whitley seemed like a "wait", or a "NO", there truly was "something better in mind" going on. He was working on my new friend Amy, so that by the time she moved here, she could be of help and instruction to me! The most amazing thing is that here I was praying for Whitley to have a friend, and in the end, we received a double blessing, not because we deserved it, but because He "had something better in mind", which was really a lesson not just about patience, but about GRACE!

Thank you God for finding favor on our request and "Saying NO to the GOOD, so we can have YOUR BEST!"