probably the best thing i got for christmas was an answered prayer. you know how you pray and pray and pray for a certain thing that is sort of looming over your head, but still remains a long way off, and kind of scares, worries, or at least concerns you? it was one of those.
namely: trying to find housing in the 2nd most expensive market in the world, from several thousand miles hence. you probably can imagine, if you don't already know, that i am to be a supported missionary when i go abroad. i have been such in germany, and shall be such in england. if you hadn't already heard, missionaries run on a pretty low budget, primarily based on faith. i'm fine with that. it is how it is. i'm glad for opportunity to trust God and see Him provide.
so, having received wise words from other missionaries, my primary means of fundraising is prayer. prayer is basically my primary means of everything, ideally. whatever i do in my own strength [which generally equates to prayerlessness and stiff-necked-ness] tends to cause me more harm than good, and sometimes i find myself having done so, and reap the consequences. but ideally, walking in the Spirit and praying fervently bear good fruit in the long run. i am a fan of good fruit. so is God. Jesus talked extensively on the subject [John 15, etc].
nevertheless, prayer it was that resulted in a blessing on christmas eve. not even specific prayer. i had imagined such a thing quite vaguely, and cast it aside as impossible. so i prayed generally, because i didn't want to pray over-imaginatively and set myself up for a letdown! here are the gory details.
i need a house [in england apartments are called flats, by the way]. if i am to live in anything beyond a cardboard box beneath an area bridge, it would be wise to incorporate a roommate into my plans, thereby creating lower rent for both of us with greater space to share. there is also the homeyness of having someone else around, which is especially comforting and helpful in a new and unknown land. the funny and altogether believable thing is, i don't want to live with just anyone. i have had well over 20 semester-or-longer roommates in the past seven years. roommates are fearful and/or wonderful creatures. some are pretty nice though.
so i need a roommate [in england they are called flatmates]. this summer i met a few girls in london, thought they were all nice, had a great conversation with one in particular. but alas, she was happily situated in a flat with another girl from the church. not wanting to invite myself to move in as their third wheel/roommate, i prayed on, hoping for someone perhaps almost as nice [or the ability to afford a nice little place of my own]. but she was the one i would have wanted to be my flatmate, had i been given the choice.
several months ensued. february was decided on as my departure from home and arrival in the UK. sounded like a strange month, but trusted that it would work. continued praying for a flat and a flatmate...
christmas eve arrived last week. i talked about this topic with my grandma, expressed that i didn't exactly know where i would live, nor with whom if anyone, but again affirmed that i did trust the Lord to provide the right place for me. she agreed. that having been said, i went upstairs and checked my email.
and there in my inbox was an email from none other than the girl who i'd thought would make a dear friend and a lovely flatmate, telling me that in february [of all months], her contract was up for her current flat, and that her current flatmate would be moving on. and she wondered very graciously if i might consider being her new flatmate?
well, it's been settled since then, and we're still writing back and forth concerning details, and looking forward to our new joint housing venture!
but it's been a great testimony to the power of faithfulness in prayer, and, even moreso, to the all-knowing, all-powerful God who sees a little tiny unspoken request in a girl's heart and without even a word carries it through to completion. it was neither my own faithfulness in praying nor my faithfulness in "finding the right thing to ask for and asking it" that was the solution to this fairly sizable problem in my life- no, no. i'm humbled to say that it really has very little to do with me, besides that it is my life which happens to be in question. God has faithfully seen me through, and i trust that He would have done that regardless of my fervency in prayer.
but i do know that, having trusted the Lord when i knew not the outcome, i am blessed to have come through to the answer having been faithful to commit it to Him in prayer. this gives me a very firm hope that in every other area about which i am praying, He shall also answer in His perfect time, in His perfect way. i shan't stop now, but press on to completion, and pray these things [and people and thoughts and ministries and tiny mustard grains of hope] through. this is the exact reason why Jesus told so many parables, "that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." [Luke 18:1]
so, regardless of your faithfulness or mine, shall we not with renewed fervor continue steadfastly in prayer??
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. [Colossians 4:2]
love, a.
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