When God Responds

At each and every sunrise you will hear my voice as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart. Psalm 3:5

It's been less than six months since I married my husband. Mike is an amazing man and I am forever grateful for God's selection. I still can't believe how far God exceeded my expectations in sending His best for me. Equally, Mike received the best in a helpmate for him.

With that said, our period as newlyweds is filled with many unexpected twists and turns. They call us the sandwich generation. The apron strings attached to our adult children (both in their early twenties) remain in tact while preparing for the rapidly approaching season of caregiving for our parents.

While I pray with thanksgiving each day, I also get overwhelmed with all the balls in play. Too much all at once is never a good thing.

We had our first argument and even though we calmly talked through it and I surrendered the issue to God while we prayed together, my mind was still agitated the next day. A trigger of rejection from my past reared it's ugly head, sending me into a fight or flight mode.  I just couldn't shake it! Rejection. Worry. Uggh!  Jesus, PLEASE remove these emotions from me! I don't know how to get past this! I pleaded to God along the American River bike trail. It is always a great place to cry out to the Lord.

One thing I do when conflict arises in my heart is I look within. It's very important to me to seek my heart and have the Lord reveal anything in me that needs to change. I go there first. Yesterday, I did just that and reached out to a counselor with Focus On The Family. I received answers and the counselor affirmed my thoughts about the matter at hand. She also recommended a book and prayed for me and my husband.

My husband came home and gave me the great big hug I always look forward to.

He was glad I reached out to the counselor, too. He saw it helped me.

Later that evening, we hesitantly took a drive to see a friend. It was supposed to be a quick visit to look at a motorcycle.

"Wait until you meet this guy. His story is incredible."

After looking the bike over for a few minutes, we went into the house to talk. It did not take long before we all began sharing stories about our walk in Christ. Our new friend, Michael, began to pray at various points during our visit and then share a word from the Bible. As my husband shared a vision and calling the Lord put upon his heart, Michael stopped him. In that moment, he heard from the Lord about my husband's calling.

"Are you ready? This is prophetic. You may not believe it now, but just you wait. God has called you up to be a powerful prayer warrior."

Our friend had no idea...

My husband is studying about the power of prayer with his men's small group.

He is active in a prayer revival taking place in our church.

We talk about the importance of stepping up our daily prayer life together.

Then he looked at me. "And what about you?

I fumbled a bit over my words. "I'm a writer. God has given me the gift of discernment."

"You know you will also be a powerful prayer warrior...right along with your husband."

"Well, the Lord did lead me into prayer counseling for women in recovery."

As Michael continued to listen and pray, he stopped and looked at me square in the eyes with a knowing. "You are holding onto some wounds. You've endured a great deal of pain." He pointed his finger repeatedly toward my heart. "There are so many holes."

The tears began to flow. I wasn't expecting this. "This is not about me."  

Michael moved his chair around the dining table and told me to turn around so he could pray over me. "Hold out your hands." He described the purpose of the anointing oil, and began praying healing and deliverance over me, in the name of Jesus.

Rejection. Gone. Resentment. Gone. Praise God!  Peace...

I will never forget the look on Mike's face. I do not think he was surprised at what unfolded around that table. My husband was so grateful to see God responding to our prayers. As was I.

"This is why you were here tonight. It wasn't about buying my motorcycle." 

Amen. God had a much bigger purpose for leading us there.