I've met a lot of atheists. One of their biggest "proofs" that God doesn't exist is that they've prayed and He didn't answer. What they actually mean by this is that they didn't get what they wanted or expected to receive, but that's because they don't know Him and they don't understand how He operates. I'll give you a perfect example by telling you about my day today.
I'm in a financial jam right now. It's nothing unusual for me. I get in them quite often. Usually it is my own fault, the crisis a result of my own faults and failings. Knowing that God loves me, and that His desire is for my ultimate good, I turned to Him for help. I got the help, but it didn't come to me in the form of money pouring from the ceiling or someone mysteriously showing up on my doorstep with a bag full of money. God didn't answer my prayer that way because He knows me, and He knows that such a thing would not be very good for me. Furthermore, this would actually be an obstacle to the desire He has for me to learn to connect more with other people.
So, no sooner had I finished praying than I got a phone call. A friend of ours needed some computer work done. Randy and I headed to the station. This friend's sales person and I got to talking and she offered to help introduce me to some business owners in town at the next Chamber of Commerce mixer, an offer I gladly took her up on. I got home, and decided to start working on my 40daywriter.com website. It's a project I'm hoping to use to catapult us into a more financially secure place.
That led me to thinking about what exactly I was going to offer in the classes that would make it worth $20. I realized I could offer personal interaction - something a book never could - and set it up to run every day for 20 days. That way, the people taking these classes are getting the most for their money and building up a library of information they can use over and over again. It's a good value, and something achievable for me.
I sat down to work on class outlines and had just finished a non-fiction inspiration class outline when I got an email from our main client needing some additional work done both on his site and another site. So, the rest of my day was spent working on those projects. This, you see, is how God answers our prayers. He doesn't usually do it in big splashy ways that are attention grabbing. He does it in small ways, in ways that encourage us to connect with other people and to form relationships, in ways that encourage us to use the existing talents, skills, and knowledge He's already given us to achieve what we need or want.
I'm in a financial jam right now. It's nothing unusual for me. I get in them quite often. Usually it is my own fault, the crisis a result of my own faults and failings. Knowing that God loves me, and that His desire is for my ultimate good, I turned to Him for help. I got the help, but it didn't come to me in the form of money pouring from the ceiling or someone mysteriously showing up on my doorstep with a bag full of money. God didn't answer my prayer that way because He knows me, and He knows that such a thing would not be very good for me. Furthermore, this would actually be an obstacle to the desire He has for me to learn to connect more with other people.
So, no sooner had I finished praying than I got a phone call. A friend of ours needed some computer work done. Randy and I headed to the station. This friend's sales person and I got to talking and she offered to help introduce me to some business owners in town at the next Chamber of Commerce mixer, an offer I gladly took her up on. I got home, and decided to start working on my 40daywriter.com website. It's a project I'm hoping to use to catapult us into a more financially secure place.
That led me to thinking about what exactly I was going to offer in the classes that would make it worth $20. I realized I could offer personal interaction - something a book never could - and set it up to run every day for 20 days. That way, the people taking these classes are getting the most for their money and building up a library of information they can use over and over again. It's a good value, and something achievable for me.
I sat down to work on class outlines and had just finished a non-fiction inspiration class outline when I got an email from our main client needing some additional work done both on his site and another site. So, the rest of my day was spent working on those projects. This, you see, is how God answers our prayers. He doesn't usually do it in big splashy ways that are attention grabbing. He does it in small ways, in ways that encourage us to connect with other people and to form relationships, in ways that encourage us to use the existing talents, skills, and knowledge He's already given us to achieve what we need or want.
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