Answered Prayers

If you thinks that God doesn’t answer prayers, I want you to read this story I’m going to share with you. I’m happy to say that by the time you’re done, I don’t believe you’ll have the same opinion. :)

I coached Upwards cheerleading this year. And had a small group of 4 girls, two being my sister, one being a girl I coached last year, and a new girl. Last year, I didn’t take devotions very seriously during the practices and I didn’t want to blow them off this year. So I made a point to take them seriously this year.

We got to the sixth practice, which is where we are supposed to share the gospel message. And while I did this, it became very clear to me that my new little girl, Torie, did not understand what a relationship with Christ truly meant. She’s been taken to Awana all her life, she knows the verses, knows the right answer, but to her, a relationship wasn’t something she really wanted. And that broke my heart. I tried everything I could think of to encourage her into a relationship with God and try to get her to understand how important this was without pushing her into it, but she didn’t care one bit. I went home completely devastated. But I prayed like crazy that night for God to use me. I was also reminded that sometimes we’re just meant to plant seeds and not save the people, that might be someone else’s job.

Over the next couple weeks, I continued asking at practice if there were any questions the girls had about what we talked about and she continued blowing me off. A week ago today, we had our last game, and I had pretty much given up any hope of her accepting Christ. But I was content with just planting a seed in her heart.

Monday night, my birthday, we had the Upwards award ceremony. With Torie sitting next to me, together we listened to a guy sing and do some fun stuff for the kids, with finishing my presenting the gospel again. He began to pray, and I put my arm around the back of Torie’s chair, and began praying as well. I prayed that if it was God’s will that Torie’s heart would be changed, that she would finally understand, but if not, that he would lead someone else into her life later that would help her make that decision.

When he finished praying, we were given a few minutes as coaches to fill out a paper, where we needed to write where our kids’ were at in their relationship with God. There were three options on the paper. (1) I know I have a relationship with Christ. (2) I do not have a relationship with Christ. (3) I accepted Christ tonight. As a coach, I had to write down each of the girls’ names and ask them where they were at. I went through the three girls, and last being Torie. She looks at me and then looks at the paper I was holding. She pointed to the number three option, and said, “I’m that one.” :)
I smiled at her and asked her if she really understood what she did, and understood why she did it. And she assured me yes. I went to give her a high five, and she wrapped her hand in mine, as I told her how proud I was of her.

Every time I think of this, I’m still in amazement of how God answered my prayer. :) I had been so devastated to not have her accept him right away, but seeing her go from that state of apathy to accepting Christ, was definitely worth the wait. It also gave me even more realization of how God truly does answer prayers. With it happening on my birthday, it made it even more special. I can honestly say, that for that reason alone, it was my best birthday yet.

God is SO good!!! :)