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July 23rd, 2020 By: April Griffin
“Helloooo?” “Is anyone up there?!”
Sometimes when I’m praying, it’s very easy to question if God is really listening. The quiet whispers and desperate pleads of my heart are sometimes met with BIG answers from God.
However, many times, it feels like I’m crying out into open space--I’m praying and nothing is happening. I’m praying, but nothing is moving. I can’t see God working and I wonder, why?
Where did He go? Did I not pray the right words?
Was my prayer not important enough?
Did it get lost in the shuffle of all the other prayers going up the Heaven with mine?
I’m a military wife, I know what it’s like for paperwork to get lost. Again. And again.
I know what it’s like to fall between the cracks of a large system, for my cares and concerns to be pushed aside for something more urgent.
As a military wife, I know what it means to live with the “mission first” mentality, with little attention paid to the family.
But I’m learning that while the military may let me down and the people I trust will let me down, God never will.
My cares and concerns may get lost in the shuffle of this messy life, but I am always number one in God’s eyes. I am learning that, while God may not answer my prayers the way I want Him to, He is always listening and He’s always answering, even if it doesn’t look the way I thought it would.
Sometimes God’s answers are outside the box, they look different, but they are always exactly what I need at exactly the right moment.
God is always listening.
Recently I embarked on a cross country trip to visit friends and family. Due to Covid-19 my husband wasn’t able to go, so it was just me and our boys. God had been faithful to protect us as we traveled and enjoyed family. It was a wonderful trip, full of laughter and friendship. It was exactly what our weary PCS’ing souls needed.
On our last leg of the trip, we stopped in my hometown to visit family. We checked into a nearby hotel, stopped off at the local grocery store for road snacks and a case of water, then met up with family for dinner. We had a great time re-connecting with family. My boys were so excited to see their cousins.
Cousins, aren’t something we get to experience much in this military life, are they? Those moments are extra special, so we stayed later than I planned and allowed them to get extra messy as they ran, swam and played.
We pulled into our hotel room at 10pm, dirty and tired. We were ready for hot baths and a good night sleep before we began our long trip back home. However, much to my dismay our hotel room had no water. None. After some investigation on the part of the hotel staff I was informed the city had turned off the water for maintenance.
There would be NO water.
Panic quickly set in as I looked at my muddy, grass covered children. Are we really going to have to sleep like this?! Ew. What about the toilet? Ew.
Then I remembered the large case of water I bought just a few hours earlier. I never buy cases of bottled water at the grocery store. Never. But for some reason, I decided to for our trip back home.
After a quick trip down to the car and a heavy load coming back up, my messy and muddy boys were able to wash off the mud and grass, brush their teeth and climb into bed nice and clean. I even had enough water left over for coffee in the morning.
You know, when I pray and seek God’s provision, I always expect it to look the way I want it to look. I would have preferred the water to magically come back on when we arrived back at our room, tired and dirty. I would have preferred the water company delay their maintenance to a later time, so we could have had hot showers. But none of that happened.
Instead, God’s answer to my prayers for safety and provision came as a 24pk of bottled water. It was cold and not ideal, but we didn’t’ have to go to bed filthy.
Sometimes I wonder how many times we overlook God’s answered prayers and blessings because they aren’t packaged the way we expected them to be? We are so busy looking up to the sky, waiting on this beautiful package with a bow, we forget to see the blessing right in front of us.
Maybe that answer isn’t as pretty. Maybe it’s not the right color. Maybe it’s a 24pk of bottled water, when you expected a hot shower.
But God reminds us in His Word that He is faithful, that He provides, that He is good.
So, even when it’s easy to question if God is listening and moving on my behalf, we can hold on to moments like this. We can trust, that even when it doesn’t look like we planned, God’s plan is always perfect and exactly on time.
Keep praying Military wife. You will never fall between the cracks. You are always heard and God’s loving eyes are always on you.
“And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:30-34