Power of Prayer
"When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't, they don't." - William Temple
4/18/20266 min read
In my last post I mentioned that we are firm believers that prayer works. I also mentioned in a previous post that we knocked over an electrical podium while docking at our last marina.
I was understandably nervous to be changing marinas especially since we had to stop at the pump out station to empty our black tanks. But, because I believe in prayer, and because I believe My Heavenly Father (like any good Father) takes pleasure in helping His children, I prayed that we would have an easy time of it and not damage anything in our attempt to dock.
And would you just look at this?
That my friend, is not skill (if you’ve been reading along you know we’re pretty much just winging it out here). I believe that our fender being in just the right spot to line up so perfectly with that post is nothing less than divine intervention! And a prayer answered!
While pulling up to the pump out station went perfectly, getting off the dock seemed quite impossible. Two things were working against us; first the strong winds pushing us against the dock and secondly the tall posts that ran along its length. Also, we had to turn as we pulled forward because there is a boat in front of us parked in a a slip perpendicular to the dock. As Chris tried to maneuver us away from the dock, the wind was trying to push us against it and either our anchor and bowsprit or our dinghy, hanging at the aft from davits, would bash into the tall pylons that line the dock. We tried all kinds of backwards and forwards maneuvering, Chris at the helm and me trying to push us off the posts, without falling off the boat, but nothing was working. We were quite frustrated. Having exhausted all our ideas, I decided to call Jim whom we had sailed with before. He’s very knowledgeable and is familiar with both our boat and our skill level. He said we really needed 3 people (we’d already looked for someone to assist but no such luck). He said we could possibly set up a mid-spring line and utilize our fenders on the front of our boat and as he was explaining to Chris how to go about it, I was already praying to God to send us a person to help.
God is good and He often does abundantly more than we ask, doesn’t He? As soon as we hung up the phone with Jim, before we even had a fender untied, a family leaving the marina in a truck drove out of their way to see what we were doing. Not only were they driving slowly, but the driver also had his window down. And, (this might be the most miraculous part), my husband, who would rather have root canal then ask for assistance, asked the driver if he could stop and help us out. Thankfully two men got out of the truck and easily pushed us off the dock. As we motored around to the other side of the marina, another boater a few slips down from ours saw us approaching and came over to grab our lines and help get us tied up.
Thinking it’s just good luck and has nothing to do with prayer? That God doesn’t care about little things like that? I used to think that way. That God can’t be bothered with petty requests when there are so many bigger and more important issues. But I have had a change of heart. No, He is not Santa Clause and we shouldn’t reduce prayer to a laundry list of wants. But I believe He takes pleasure in both our worship and our faith and that He is pleased when we trust Him for the things we need both big and small.
In fact, later that evening as we were strolling down the beach, we had the opportunity to pray with a couple of ladies. We prayed with Summer for the healthy birth of her first child, due in just a couple of weeks and Jennifer who had just moved to Rockport and was having difficulty finding a job.
Just to be clear, I do not have any special abilities when it comes to prayer. Praying in front of people usually makes me feel self-conscious and often comes off feeling or sounding awkward. But when I asked Jen if there was anything I could pray about for her and her daughter, she grabbed my hands and asked, “Could you pray with us right now, right here?” I love when people ask expectantly, with trust that God is listening to them and wants to act on their behalf. It’s so easy to pray with people who have faith in God like that. It’s such an encouragement to me in my faith, too. Jen believed that me being there in that moment was God’s design. Not because she needed me to pray for her, my prayers are not any more effective than her own, but to show her that He heard her and knew her heart. I think God crossed our paths to encourage us both, and Summer too. What a privilege to get to pray for the precious life that would soon be born into this world!
Almost a week later Chris and I took the shuttle bus to the grocery store. The driver was friendly and seemed to have an interest in boats, so we invited him over that evening. After grocery shopping, we went to the beach where we ran into Jen again and invited her to come over too. Luis brought his girlfriend, Yvonne, who is a nurse. When she learned that Jen was looking for job and had experience as a home health aide, she said she could hook her up with an interview with someone she used to work with at the Veterans Administration.
Still skeptical? Think it’s just a string of coincidences? I may have agreed with you once, but not now, because I’ve witnessed so many prayers answered. But there was a time a didn’t believe in prayer, I didn’t believe in heaven, I didn’t’ believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God or that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Worse, I mocked those that did. I thought they were weak and simple minded. I was offended by the idea that I was a sinner in need of a Savior.
Just like God’s Word says:
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I Corinthians 1 :18
Have you ever read Romans 1? That was me, a fool wise in my own eyes; futile in my reasonings, my heart darkened to the majesty, power and divine nature of God. But thanks to the earnest prayers of my sister and the church who came along to pray with her in faith for my salvation, I came to know the truth.
The truth is that God created us and He loves us. That even though we have rejected Him, He has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the way, the only way, to know God and be transformed by His Spirit because of His grace and mercy.
I know this to be true the same way I know that prayer works. Because I have seen undeniable evidence in my own life. God has proven to me time and again that He is with me, that I can trust Him and that His love is never failing.
