Lessons I learned from praying…
1) No matter how bad or hopeless or sad I feel, prayer sees me through. One night, I felt so sad and frustrated I went out alone to drive around town. It felt like I was at the end of the rope – didn’t know what else to do. I texted a friend thousands of miles away to pray for me. She and her husband prayed for me. It got me through that night and the following day till today… as I look back, prayer works!
2) God is always ahead of me. He answers my prayer even before I thought of it. When I was about to give birth to Mimi, I said: Sana my girl would look like hubby so my in-laws would love her just like they would a grandson. How silly of me to pray that on the day i was to have my C.S! But out came Mimi and of my 3 children, Mimi looks the most like Andrew. When she was 1 week old, a friend observed Mimi looked very much like her ama. And it’s true.
3) God gives me more than I asked. Although my children are all girls, my in laws loved them just as much and even more than what i could hope and pray for. I learned that God gives me beyond what i know how to ask for. My shallow qualification for a hubby was for him to be tall. Not tall, dark and handsome.. just tall. God gave me tall, fair and wise. Perhaps a bit too domineering. But God used hubby to shape me into the person I am today. I was too young and immature – I was naive. I did not know how it was to marry an only begotten son. God used my in-laws to transform me – to do what I would not and could not have achieved – because I was married into this family.
4) God is always on time. Prayer is waiting on God’s time and expecting God’s best even when it is hard. Prayer is antidote to worry. It is easier said than done. But God allows me to learn step by step. He lets me experience his timely provisions when i learn to let go. Each little step is a scaffold for me to go up higher in the school of trust and obedience as I pray.
5) Prayer is talking with God anytime, anywhere, anyhow based on relationship of intimacy – knowledge of the pray-er for his object and subject of prayer – getting to know the One who listens to his call – to obey the One who answers with a yes or a no. And prayer is the means where God and I – we become one – through the Holy Spirit by the blood of Jesus. Amen.