One Answered Prayer

Ever have that one thing you’ve been praying about for what seems like forever? It could be massive – a health issue, a job, a financial miracle. Can you think of that one prayer you believe that if God answered it everything else would fall into place?

This thought came up the other day at a prayer meeting. The pastor leading the service said something like, “I am pretty sure everyone in this room probably has at least one answered prayer.”

That got me thinking. I have been praying for over 40 years now. If God only answered one prayer a month, that would be 480 answered prayers.

Now, math is not my favourite subject, but stick with me here. I sat down and started to think about it. What would it be if He answered a prayer once a week? Once a week would be 2,444, not counting leap years, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin to figure that out.

And what about prayers that other people prayed over me? I know some people who have prayed for me, at least my mom and dad and a few others along the way. If I add those in, does it make 30,000 prayers answered?

And let’s not forget meals. I figure I’ve skipped a few meals along the way and did not pray a time or two – so let’s do 2.5 x 365 x 46 = 42,887.

What about the BIG prayers? There have been many in my life, but one that sticks out in my mind is from my childhood. The details are a little fuzzy; I was four when this happened, so I had to get some of these details from my parents, and some are from my memory.

There was this thing growing out of the corner of my eye. I am not sure how long it had been there or how big it got. We didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t supposed to be there. They had scheduled me for surgery. Our whole church was praying for me.

Being the four-year-old I was, I was playing with this thing one night while looking in the mirror. This next part my mother and I disagree on. She says I pulled it out, but I would tell you I flicked it off. Either way, the growth was no longer in my eye.

Now that would be a great way to end the story, except it began to grow back. I can’t tell you how long it took, but I can tell you that they did keep the surgery date.

My family was praying for me, that God would heal me, praying that I didn’t have to have the surgery. Our church was praying.

The day of the surgery arrived. We went to the hospital, and they prepped for surgery. When the surgeon came in, he gave the nurse trouble for prepping the wrong eye because there was no growth. So, they flipped me over and started prepping the other side. They couldn’t find the “right eye” because they couldn’t find the growth in the corner of my eye.

I don’t know how long I had to wait in that room or when the growth disappeared; my parents don’t either. What we do know is that I didn’t have surgery that day. Before that day, I had something growing out of my eye, and I was going to need surgery, but before they could operate, and with a bunch of people praying for me, it was no longer growing out of my eye. And it never grew back.

That is just one of my many BIG prayers that God has answered.

It is good to be reminded that God is more than able to flick a growth from a kid’s eye so that she doesn’t need surgery. He can bless our food. He can hear the prayers we pray alone, the ones we pray together, and the ones we pray for our family and friends.

He knows them all. If you have that one prayer you are looking for an answer to, remember one prayer He has already answered.  Thank Him for that one. Remember, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

You never know how He may show Himself to you this time.