This past weekend my team went to Cappadocia. We rode a hot air balloon, climbed through ancient cave churches and homes of monks, rode bikes and mopeds. But the best part was when Jesus answered my prayer letting me know I’m not forgotten. It was halfway through our bike ride around Cappadocia when Erin started fading– the heat was getting to her. We rode another couple of miles, but she and I started walking our bikes; it hurt too much to keep riding. It was in that moment that I asked God, “If it’s your will, send us a truck.” Right then I heard a car come up behind us, but it was just a small car and it kept going. I think it was God saying “Wait.” We walked for about half a mile, when a pet grooming van drove up the road and stopped just ahead of us. It backed up for a bit, then drove away and stopped again by Thomas. They rolled down their window and said something to him. And then they backed up to Erin and me. And asked if we wanted a ride back into town.
What? Immediately I knew what His answer was. His answer was the same as ours; “Yes!”
It wasn’t exactly what I asked for, it was better. I was expecting to ride in the bed of a truck, even though I haven’t seen any trucks in Turkey, and instead he sent a van with air conditioning and animals on the side of it. Oh how my sweet Father loves giving good gifts.
Sometimes I don’t understand why the Lord makes me wait. Why I can’t have answers right now. Why I can’t know where I’m going after this race. Why prayers go unanswered. Like when our team prayed over Erin’s swollen ankles, asking in faith for them to be healed. And he said not yet. Wait. And the countless other prayers I’ve prayed that I’m still waiting on. Why so often my biggest prayers receive a “Just wait.” But even in this time of waiting, He reminds me that he’s thinking about me in answering the little prayers.
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
-Lamentations 3:25
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation My God will hear me.”
-Micah 7:7
“And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.””
-Matthew 21:21-22
