As a fairly new Christian in my early 20s, I started asking the Lord if it would be possible for my parents to move closer to us. This would allow me to spend more time with them and allow them to spend more time with our children. My prayer went something like this: “Lord, if it be Your will, please let my parents move closer and possibly start attending our church.”
A few years passed as I continued to pray this prayer. During that span of time, my parents had moved twenty-five minutes from us. I asked myself, “Could the Lord be continuing to answer my prayer?” I was overwhelmingly thankful that we all lived closer to each other. However, God had bigger plans that I could not see yet.
I was still working a part-time job at that time and had decided that it was more cost efficient to quit working and to stay home instead. A couple months after quitting my job to stay home with my children, my mother was diagnosed with stage III cancer. My dad was still working a full-time job; therefore, I knew it was my turn to help care for my mother. During those two and a half years of taking care of my mother, there would have been no possible way for me to work a full-time job and be there for Mom in her last days.
After Mom passed away, there was a very large void in my heart and in my life. I did not understand all that God was trying to do, but I knew He was working in my life. I remember asking God to answer my past prayer. I continued praying, “Lord, if it be Your will, let my dad come to our church.” My dad soon began attending our church and, shortly after that, became a member. I may have cried a little the day he joined. God had answered my prayer!
I knew that God had answered my prayer and that He had done more for me than I had asked, but He was not finished. If God would have just stopped there, that would have been amazing and would have been enough for me. As I grieved over losing Mom and Dad grieved over losing his spouse, God brought someone into our lives who would help both of us. God allowed my dad to remarry a special lady who not only loves my dad but also loves my children and our whole family. She is someone who has been able to help and to comfort me, and God has used her to fill a void in my heart. God has answered my prayers and has exceeded my expectations. When I first prayed that prayer so many years ago, I did not know all the things that would take place. God would answer my prayer, but He would do it in His way and in His time.
The Bible says in Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Sometimes when we ask God for things, He answers our prayers right away in the way we want them to be answered. Sometimes God allows us to go through trials, grief, heartache, tough situations, tears, pain, and years of praying before He answers our prayers.
When I quit my job to spend time with my children and my parents, I did not realize that I had quit to be able to take care of my sick mother. God meant it for good. When I asked God to move my parents closer so we could spend more time together, I did not realize that I would be driving to and from appointments while my mom was going through cancer treatments. God meant it for good. When I prayed, “If it be Your will, let my parents possibly start attending our church,” I did not know that only my dad would join and that my mom would be in Heaven. God meant it for good. During the grief, heartache, and times when I needed God’s comfort, God still came through and answered my prayer. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:… God even brought someone in my life to help comfort me, to fill that void, and to be a “mother” to me. He makes everything beautiful in His time.
When there is something we just do not understand, we can take hope in God’s Word. He makes all things good and beautiful in His time. When God answers our prayers, it will be good and beautiful because it will be His perfect will.
by Mandy Harper
