Good morning, family. I wanted to visit with you here today to reminisce about some things that happened with me in my life. First off, way back in 1984, my life was not in a good place. I was miserable being single after my 10-year marriage failed.
One particular Sunday in May, my insides were in shambles. My daughter and I had spent the weekend with my parents. On the way home I dropped her off with her mom, and then proceeded to drive home, which was about 30 miles away.
In my car, alone, I started to cry out to God about my life and where it was headed. With tears running down my face, I felt a warm embrace, I’m talking about a full-body embrace. Up until that day, I had never actually cried out to Him from my innermost being. I’m sure that I had, in the past, quickly asked for His help in a moment of haste in need, but not from my inner soul as I did that day.
I made a promise right then to Him, that if He would get me to church by 7:00 PM that day, I would serve Him for the rest of my life!
A rain storm started, pouring down rain so hard, that I could just barely see the front of my Corvette. Driving fast in the rain, is a strict No-No in these cars! Yet I felt like the car was in a bubble, protected from the rain, and I just kept driving way past the speed limit on the interstate.
The rain stopped after just a few minutes, but then, coming towards me was a Missouri State Highway Patrol. I just knew I was getting stopped and probably going to jail driving that fast. However, it was as if he never saw me, so I just kept driving home.
Got home, changed clothes, and drove to a church that I had never been to in my life, but where I felt as if I was being directed to go. A parking space was right in front of the church, so I parked and looked straight at the big church announcement sign in front of me. Sunday evening service starts 6:00 pm, not 7:00. When I looked at the time, it was straight up 7:00 pm. I heard a loud voice that reminded me that I had promised to serve Him for the rest of my life, IF He would get there 7:00.
AND HE DID!!
I went in, sat at the first available pew, and within just a few minutes, the pastor had an altar call. I’ve never been to an altar in my 31 years of life, so as I walked that aisle to the front, I went to the pulpit, and kneeled next to it. My steps were guided to that spot. A man came to me and we talked. No pressure about being saved or anything, we just talked about my life and where I was in life. Gary then told me his life was the same as mine was before he started serving God. I made some more promises about my life and that my house would be cleared of everything bad in my life before going to bed.
When I got home, I grabbed the trashcan and proceeded to throw out the garbage in my life. I called a friend and asked her to come get all of this, because I wouldn’t need it anymore. When she got there, she told me she would hang on to it, because she knew I had tried before and failed.
Then my phone rings, and it was a man I worked with, that I had never talked with on the phone before. We lived in separate towns, probably 30-40 miles away. Ricky asked me what happened to me that day. My answer was, “nothing”. He asked again, and my answer again was, “nothing”. Ricky then being very persistent, asked a third time what had happened to me that day.
My answer, “I gave my life to God”.
Ricky got really excited and said he knew it! How did Ricky know? We were not close friends, just barely saw each other at work, and lived several miles apart. After a few minutes of conversation, I discovered that when I was crying out to God, he was in prayer for me at his men’s prayer meeting at his own church. After hanging up, I was just in awe at all of this!
How?
Why?
I told my friend and her response was, “That’s just mind telepathy”.
No, that was God!!
At work the next day, we got together to fill in some gaps about the evening before. It turns out that Ricky had been praying for me for months. He had been carrying a burden for me, someone that he barely knew, yet he did what was laid on his heart.
When I have doubts or feel weak in my faith, I go back to this miracle of a day. When YHWH lays someone on your heart, pray for them, even though you may not know them very well. You may never know what personal things are going on in their lives, but He has called you out, to pray for them.
Fast forward to about 1998. I was building my house and was in the process of laying tile in the kitchen and dining room. I had way too much grout spread out, and knew I was in trouble. If that stuff dried before I could get it cleaned up, my floor may be ruined. I stopped and asked YHWH to please show me what to do and to help me get this floor cleaned up before it was to late.
In about 10 minutes, a man from work walked through the kitchen door, rolled up his sleeves, and said, “looks like you need some help”. He knelt down with me and we proceeded to clean up my mess. I was stunned. You see, this was not Larry’s normal way home, it was several miles out of his way. He told me on his way home, he felt a strong urge to turn onto I-95 North. Larry had never been where I was building my house before that day but the Father led him to me.
Larry answered my prayer that day, supernaturally through YHWH. He heard YHWH speak to his heart, and took the appropriate action. So, you see, even the little things can be answered when we have trust in Him!
We may never know whose prayers we answer, so long as we answer the call He puts in our heart!
Shalom,
Tom McDaniel, Guest author