THE MASTER KEY
I have so many keys on my keychain that I don’t even know what they all to honestly. When I’m digging out my keys to unlock the front door or to start my car, I can’t help but wish I just had a master key to everything. A master key is designed to bypass the top and bottom grooves of the lock so that it can be used to open multiple locks. There is a master key to understanding our own life – PRAYER. Prayer is the key to answers for everything. If we need help with healing, strength, encouragement, determination, compassion, confidence, joy, direction, peace, comfort, anger or fears – it starts with prayer. It is the master key that’s going to help us unlock miracles. I’m not talking about miracles where something perfect is going to happen and everybody’s going to be so happy, but having peace in any situation. Sometimes God does move that mountain, but it is unlocked by the power of prayer.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
There are so many times that I prayed, and I didn’t see the outcome for a long time. But I kept praying. Sometimes I saw the outcome as something MORE or BETTER than what I could even ask for. Chris and I actually started praying for Finding the Family in 2004. We prayed and we prayed and we prayed, but no open doors. We kept doing the things that were laid in front of us. Whatever God asked us to do, we did it. We’ve learned so much about administration when it comes to recovery and about helping people through their issues when it comes to the fears in their heart or the past things that hurt them so bad. We needed learn a little bit more because God was building our abilities to start this ministry.
When we finally saw breakthrough in this prayer was actually when we stopped praying just the two of us. We took our prayer request to knew believers in the Stepping into Freedom class at our church. The prayer of a new believer who is just overcoming drugs, alcohol and relationship issues is often a snotting, crying plea, “God, help me.” It’s real and it’s raw. I think it’s something that we lose touch with, the more confident we get in the words that we say to God, and the older we get in the Lord. As we prayed with these new believers, we started seeing breakthrough and doors opening. Things started lining out that we could never have asked for or dream up. The homes that are on this property are beautiful and quality and way better than what we asked God for. We asked God for the a couple of double wide trailers. Which would have been totally find, but these homes are MORE than what we asked God for. If it fits in His Will, then keep asking, be tenacious. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.
IT’S NOT AN UNANSWERED PRAYER. GOD JUST HAS SOMETHING BETTER.
I remember when I was young in the Lord and I would sit at my dining room table, and I had my prayer journal open. When someone asked me to add their prayer to the list, I added it. I was so excited to do so. I had pages and pages and pages of prayer requests. I’m not called to be a prayer warrior, that’s not a gift that I have. But I knew that there was power in prayer. There were some times that I prayed for years and I doubted if there was an answer to this prayer. Or sometimes, God actually put a shut door on that prayer.
I remember one time I just prayed and prayed that God would give my husband an advance in his work. We saw it happening, happening, happening. It was getting better and better. Then all of a sudden, that company closed the doors. This was in the recession of 2008. The doors closed, and he lost his job. There was no progression in pay, he had lost his job.
I remember, everybody saying,” You’re such a woman of faith, you’re not even worried about this.” I told them, “ No, I’m not, but what do you do?” Sometimes when I would get home, I would go in and I would close the door, and my prayer began facedown on the carpet crying, “God, are you not hearing my prayers?” I didn’t understand it at the time, but I was still talking to Him, and He was still listening to me. I look back now, and think if I would have been listening closely enough, I could have heard him say, I’m working on something better, would you just be patient?” So I would cry and go out and tell people the truth. I was standing on a promise that God was not going to let us fall, He would never see his children beg for bread.
Fast forward many years, my husband is the sole owner of his own company. It’s the American Dream. It’s not all about money, but he makes enough to support our family and it’s more money than what he was making then. At the time, I couldn’t believe God would do this to us. I remember saying, “God, we tithe. How could this happen?” I’m sure that He was not shaken by me with my faithless heart. It says in Timothy that He gives faith to the faithless because he doesn’t disown his own. So we have to remember that sometimes. It’s not an un-answered prayer, it’s either just wait or if He says no, then He knows better than we do. Don’t lose heart. If you don’t see the perfect answer to the prayer that you’ve been praying for, know that it can be better than what you even hoped for.