Really God, you answered my prayer??

One of my favorite Bible stories is found in Acts 12:12-23. Peter had just been freed from jail and he goes to a house where a prayer meeting had been going on for his rescue. When the maid answers the door she's so shocked she forgets to let him in as she runs off to tell the others. When she gets to the prayer meeting no one believes her, even though they'd been praying for his release. The humor in this story never ceases to escape me, but how often do we have the same reaction when God chooses to answer our prayers.

I heard on a Focus on the Family radio broadcast one time the best way to create faith in your children is to have them keep a prayer journal. I couldn't agree more. There has never been a time I've gone back and read an old prayer journal and not seen God answer all of the prayers in some way. I opened up a prayer journal in college that I had kept in 7^th grade only to discover the young woman who had been baptized that week at church was the girl I used to walk home from school with, and pray for her salvation. We'd lost touch after middle school, but God still answered the prayer. I get so excited when Ivy asks me to pray with her, yesterday she wanted to pray 5 times in a row. What's really touching is she's starting to pray on her own now.

God's answers to prayer continue to amaze me, but I have to admit there are times when I don't expect him to answer my prayer and I'm shocked when he does.

Lord enable me to have greater faith in your hand, help me to trust in you in all things. Amen. (Or as my daughter would say AY-MAN!)