Oakwood Church Fresh Start Women's Devotional Encouragement for Today Hartland Delafield

Unexpected Answers To Prayer
By Karen D’Amore

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19

Everyday for five months I prayed for a job for my husband. Knowing the financial challenges which lay ahead, I began to grow weary and impatient. God was not answering my prayers according to my timetable, so I figured it was time for me to help Him out! Without praying, I took on a second job, in addition to the beyond-full-time job that I was already working.

As I sat through the four-hour orientation, I squirmed with restlessness and guilt. This was not from God…it was my impatient fix to a situation I should have trusted Him to fix. Now I had committed to something that would prove to be impossible…or would kill me in the process of proving that it was possible. Regardless, I needed to swallow my pride, turn down the job and commit to staying in the center of God’s will.

Outside of God’s will there is no peace. And a day without His peace is like a day without air. Begging for mercy and forgiveness, I repented for not trusting Him to provide for our needs. I pleaded to Him the need for a specific amount of money to cover upcoming financial responsibilities. It was a deliberate and specific prayer that I shared with no one other then Jesus. It was a prayer (in my limited thinking) that I thought He would possibly answer with a job offer for my husband.

Thanksgiving followed just days after my pleading prayer, and it would conclude with expressions of gratitude and an unexpected gift to us of the exact amount of money I had requested from God.

During this entire process, God was telling me that He would provide for my needs and that He would do it in ways that I wouldn’t expect. Certainly, I know that in other Christ-followers’ lives a second job could be God’s answer and gracious provision. But in my particular situation, had I continued in my disobedience and taken that second job, I would have hindered God from showing me His faithfulness, robbing myself of one of the richest faith lessons I have ever experienced. In this microwave society of quick fixes, the concept of waiting on Jesus is a true faith challenge. But I encourage each of us to wait on Him, to trust Him, to believe in the promises of His Word and allow Him to build our faith with unexpected answers to prayer.

GOING DEEPER:
1. For what in your life are you praying...but with unbelief? Will you ask God to help you change?
2. Ask someone to pray with you a very specific request. Learn to trust God and to expect the unexpected, beyond all that you think or ask.

FURTHER READING:
1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Peter 3:9; Philippians 4:19; 1 Timothy 6:17

Married to husband Dan, Karen manages Intrigue hair salon, is the administrator for Oakwood’s Tuesday a.m. Bible Study, and co-leads a freshman girls’ small group.