The Joy of Answered Prayer

It was one of those things that changed the course of my life. It was when the Lord changed another life. It all began in the fall of '09. During that autumn, I would see random people and just feel like I had to pray for them. It was around this time that I began praying much more for salvation for others.

Well, it was football season. I'm a football fan, along with my dad and two older brothers. I prayed for the college's athletic teams, but especially for the football team and staff. And most and hardest of all for the quarterback. He was not a very good player, I'm sorry to say, and when others would sometimes put him down, I felt sorry for him and never gave up hope that he could become better. I rooted for him, and prayed hard for him and for his salvation. I prayed when I saw him on TV or when I thought about him. I prayed probably the most faithfully I've ever prayed for somebody. I didn't know if he was a Christian already, I didn't ever expect to find out.

But one day my life changed.

I was in the dining room with my brothers and my mom. It was Saturday - game day. My mom said she'd heard that the quarterback of our team had become a Christian. Through a roundabout way my mom had found out that he had become a Christian a few weeks before through Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Not only that, but a few others on the football team had also placed their trust in Jesus Christ. My mom just mentioned it one day. She didn't know I'd been praying for him at all. A friend of a friend was involved in FCA and told a friend of ours, who just happened to talk about it at a prayer meeting my mom was at, and she in turn mentioned it when I just happened to be in the same room!

As for the quarterback, starting almost as soon as he became a follower of Christ, he began playing much better - in fact, becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the conference! When I found out the news of his becoming a Christian it was one of those moments where I felt like I was walking on clouds - I was so incredibly happy! It was a double miracle - the person I'd prayed for so hard had become a Christian, and God had worked out a way for me to find out!

But my story doesn't end there. For God has used that miracle again and again to help me trust in Him and see His individualized love. It helped change my life, but still, I told no one of it for about it for a long time. It was my own wonderful secret. But God didn't want it to impact just my life, He wanted me to shine the great news of His awesome deed to others.

One day, two years later, I told my mom about that miracle. She was, of course, very happy about it. Since then I've told others in my family and my youth group. Sometimes we see God do something marvelous and it affects our live wondrously, but we don't tell anyone - maybe because we want it to be our own secret, or we fear they won't fully understand the amazingness of it all. Or maybe they'll think us silly or stupid. But let me tell you, it is never silly or stupid to praise our God! I know everyone has stories to tell of answered prayers, of miracles that defy human explanation, of God's helping hand in a trying time. Would you be willing to share such stories by writing a comment? We must make God's wonderful work known (Psalm 71:14-19), and not hide our light under a bushel (Matthew 5:14-16)!

So, if you're willing, please share the joy of an answered prayer in the comments below!