Sometimes, we wonder if God answers prayer. Please, let me set the scene for my true story.
My son was in the army. From early childhood he wanted to be in the army. He was thirteen on 9/11 and wanted to sign up that day.
Fortunately, he was too young to join at the time, but we also convinced him to wait so he could join through the Reserve Officer Training Corp known as ROTC. He loves a challenge, and he excelled to that challenge by earning a four-year ROTC scholarship to university.
Once in the army he was chosen to go through Ranger training as a Second Lieutenant, the entry level rank for an officer. During the training, he had no way to communicate with us outside of occasional snail mail.
One night during the mountain stage of the training, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, wide awake and felt an overwhelming urge to pray for him. I prayed as intensely as I can remember. Suddenly, the urge lifted.
I believe the Holy Spirit was telling me my prayers were answered.
I looked at the time, and only two minutes had passed.
Noting the time, (now buried in an old journal somewhere,) I immediately had complete peace to fall asleep for the next few hours.
The next morning, I did two things. First, I received a phone call from my mom. We discovered we both had the same intense desire to pray for Alex at the same time for two minutes.
My second act was to get a letter in the mail to him. I gave him the date and time, describing what his grandmother and I experienced.
Receiving a response took a couple weeks and what I learned about that night is memorable.
That night his platoon was hiking along a narrow mountain trail with a steep drop-off on one side. The were carrying 60-pound packs, in strong winds and heavy downpours. They had barley slept for several days.
In a half sleepwalking state, he began losing his balance, slipping towards the drop off.
The next thing he knew, “someone” stopped him from going over the edge, however, there was no one close enough to him who could have helped.
He knew he could have been severely injured or lost his life.
His mother and grandmother, living 800 miles apart from each other and both of us over 1,000 miles from where Alex was, responded to Abba’s call to prayer.
This was not the first time prayer saved Alex’s life. Read here. And there are other stories, I may recount another day.
As his mother, of course I thank God for saving his life. I also Thank God for waking my mother too. Apparently, this assignment needed the prayer of agreement, even if we were not aware of it at the time it took place.
All the glory belongs to God.
Not everyone has these dramatic true stories, but I share to encourage everyone who calls Jesus Lord, to begin asking for and looking for answered prayer. Perhaps He will give you your own dramatic answer, but He will give you answers when you look for them
Imagine each of us sharing true stories of the marvelous acts of God answering prayer. What a wonderful way to bring Glory to our Abba.
