Once you've done your research, you'll know in your heart. Don't depend upon people in high places to tell you. Know it for sure. Do you really know what you think you know?
Monday, June 30, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Prayer and Faith
Why does God answer my prayers and not theirs? Is it a lottery which prayers are answered by God? Or is it all coincidence? Why does God make it seem random in choosing who's prayers are answered?
I think the above questions cover the spectrum of what passes through our minds as well as non-believers.
Our human nature tries to make sense of what's going on and sometimes it's easier to explain it by saying, “must be God,” or “part of God’s plan.”
I believe in the power of prayer as it has sustained me several times in my life.
I’m convinced my loud praying kept me from being killed by a rapist on November 14, 1986. I’d prayed out loud the entire time for God to hold me in the palm of His hand. My assailant wasn’t able to kill me. He’d felt pressured into releasing me close to where he’d carjacked me in Beachwood. He’d asked me several times to stop praying. I’d refused. After all, what’d I have to lose at that point? I felt deep in my heart if I’d obeyed him, he’d have killed me.
“Where was your God while you were being raped?” I’ve been asked.
My answer, “my FAITH kept GOD with me that night. He’d cradled me in His palm so tight that I lived and flourished without a damaged mind. I’ve never experienced any hang-ups after that night with a knife to my neck. I’ve never experienced a flashback or nightmare about the incident. I’ve never feared getting lost in rough neighborhoods. And yet, I’m able to recall vivid details if needed (which came in handy a few years ago.)”
Why?
God proved to me that He’s greater than my real life nightmares. I’d learned that night my FAITH in God will overcome life’s horrible episodes.
“You psyched him out and that’s why he couldn’t kill you. It wasn’t really God.” Someone else once challenged me.
Uh-huh, okay, maybe… to a point, I suppose… On the other hand, I’d be giving myself, a 20 year old naïve country girl, too much credit to know to sit on the cap gun I’d kept on the passenger’s seat, to leave my gloves on to cover my engagement ring, to tell him he’d need to buy gas soon with a ¼ tank which kept him from driving us to a faraway place, and lastly when he’d released me, to run around the side of the building in a field so he wouldn’t run me over. God took over my mind that night.
My God hears our prayers and knows our needs.
He’d known what was going to happen and that I’d need to pray for His help. He'd left the choice up to me to pray or not. It was my choice to trust Him and believe He was there to help me.
Since then, God’s revealed Himself in different ways reinforcing my knowledge that He’s watching me, loves me, always with me, comes on time, and supplies my needs. I have many more examples to prove He’s real and listens.
Even so, I’ve known those whose prayers weren’t answered the same way as mine. Why?
I have FAITH God’s plans and lessons are different for everyone. I TRUST God’s planned future is perfect. It may not be the ending of our desires but, His is better in the long run.
Kimberly Loving Ross - Author of The Library Room
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