When you make it a habit of talking to God every day, you get to experience the sweetness of that relationship. God already knows all of your needs, but He wants you to talk to Him about it. Why? Because then you get to see that He is listening; that He cares about you; So, you not only get the tangible answer, but you also get to see how very real He is. And how very close He is.
This was one of those extraordinary moments:
Shivering in the cold house, my faith was pretty tattered. It was a tiny house with only one bedroom. I had set up a bunkbed in that bedroom for my two boys to sleep in. The tiny front room had a couch with a sleeper in it. In the evenings I would open it and that is where my young daughter and I would sleep. At the time the children were at their father’s house but would be coming home that evening to a very dismal place. The tiny house had a corner fireplace, the only source of heat other than the very miniature oven. There was no wood and I had no money to purchase any.
I knelt in the tiny front room and began to cry out to God. He was my only Source and I was leaning into Him for my immediate need. My God shall provide all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
I heard a quiet knock on the door. Drying my tears, I cautiously went to see who was there. I opened the door to a young boy with a very dirty face. I immediately felt a compassion for him. “May I help you?”
Straightening his shoulders, he proudly told me that he had been chopping wood with his father down the street, but that they didn’t have a fireplace. His dad wanted to know if I could use some wood.
Hello? An answer literally minutes from the prayer! And obviously prepared before I had asked.
After my incredulous and excited, YES, I didn’t have to do anything. He ran back to his father and the two of them brought load after load after load of wood. They stacked it neatly against the house, and by my rough calculations there had to have been at least two cords of wood. The father and son had declined my offer of help, so I could only stand there and watch with amazement the tangible answer to my prayer, being fulfilled before my very eyes! With their act of kindness completed, they smiled and left.
Still in a state of astonishment, I gathered up stray pieces for kindling and loaded my arms with the wood. With much joy I built that much-needed fire. Usually, fresh cut wood is hard to get started. Nope. It ignited with a passion!
This miracle of grace had given me renewed joy and strength. With a light-heartedness I prepared two loaves of fresh bread, baking one at a time in the miniature oven. My children arrived home to the delicious aroma of fresh hot bread and the coziness of that incredible crackling fire.
All that I thought was going to be hopelessly wrong, was now abundantly right.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. I John 5:12-15