Pray continuously and expect miracles
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)
My mom and brother, Joe, arrived in GA a month ago for their tri-monthly visit, and I can honestly say they did so on the wings of a prayer – many fervent prayers, in fact. God never ceases to amaze me.
On their travel day, thunderstorms were threatening to delay their Denver departure. Would that it had been so. The whole day would have been much less dramatic if that were the case. Fortunately, God wanted to use their trip to demonstrate His power over our circumstances – and our ability to trust and pray.
Their adventure began when they missed the first of their two train rides to the airport by only a few minutes. Their regular travel day routine is for Joe to drop Mom off at the RTD railway station – approximately a mile from their house – return the car home, and jog back to catch the train. This time, his return came just a few minutes too late, causing a 30-minute delay in their trip.
Their connection is tight, usually allowing only a few minutes for the pair to leave the train and rush to another track to catch the airport run. This time, the connection didn’t come. When I called to ensure they were on their final train, my brother told me the trains had stopped running. “I don’t know why,” he reported.
“Maybe it’s the weather,” I replied.
“I don’t know,” Joe said. “It’s clear now. I’m afraid we’re going to miss our flight.”
“You still have plenty of time,” I affirmed. “Hang in there.”
Fifteen minutes later, my brother texted me, saying, “They’re sending buses.”
“A gift from God,” I said. “All will be well!”
My brother texted me twenty minutes later to report they were on the bus, but it wasn’t leaving for another 20 minutes.
“Does it go straight to the airport like the train does?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” my brother replied.
“Ask the driver. He’ll tell you,” I suggested.
A few minutes later, my brother texted to tell me there would be two stops on the journey.
“I understand,” I responded. “I’m praying for you both!”
“The stops are taking too long,” came the following text approximately 10 minutes later.
Checking my watch, I knew the delays had consumed all the extra travel time my brother allowed for their transportation.
“Go to the check-in counter as soon as you arrive,” I offered. “Do that before you ask for the wheelchair for mom. They’ll need to know that you’re there as soon as you arrive. Maybe the agents can help you get through security and drive you and mom to the gate. That happened to David and I once. I’m praying hard for both of you!”
Rechecking the time, I realized that their flight would be boarding in 30 minutes – and they weren’t even at the airport. Things weren’t looking promising for their trip.
I was working in my mom’s yard while all this was happening. A neighbor had consented to my digging up canna lilies from the canal beside his home to replant above my mom’s septic tank. I meant this to be a surprise for my mom when she arrived. With my long work hours and all the other yard projects I’d undertaken in my yard, I was rushing to finish this project before her arrival.
Despite my rush to get the plants in, I felt compelled to stop working and pray. Nothing could be more important than that.
And so, I dropped to my knees in my mom’s yard, put my face to the ground, and prayed, beseeching God to keep my mom and brother safe and bring them to me. Repeatedly, I kept saying, “Keep them safe, Lord. Open the gate. Keep them safe and open the gate. You parted the Red Sea. I know You can open the gate. Your will be done. Strengthen their testimony.”
I continued like this, praying for God to open the gate until the time came and went when I knew their boarding window had ended. With no word from my brother, I changed my prayers from pleas to acceptance.
It was then that I remembered how King David had begged God to save the first child born to him with Bathsheba – even though the prophet Nathan had told him his son would die. He prayed, clothed himself in sackcloth, and fasted for days, refusing to eat while petitioning his heavenly Father to save his son.
2 Samuel tells us the rest of the story:
18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
2 Samuel 12:18-22
19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
I felt much the same. I prayed. I had pleaded with God for help. The only thing left to do was accept the outcome.
It was then that I called my brother again, intending to make a plan about how they’d arrive the next day.
When my brother picked up, I was stunned to hear him say, “We’re on the plane.”
“What?” I questioned. “How on earth did that happen?”
“The pilot was late, too,” came the reply. “They let us on with him. We’re seated in the front of the plane.”
I laughed and cried at this miraculous news, saying, “Yay, God! The same thing happened to me once, but I never thought it would happen again. That’s fantastic! I’ve been praying hard for hours, but when I didn’t hear anything, I surrendered and said, ‘Okay, God. It’s all up to You.’ Hearing that He opened the gates, just as I was praying, is miraculous. Yay, God!”
Surrender is a miraculous thing. Our lives are seldom under our control. How quickly we forget God’s power – until He demonstrates it.
Only when we give everything to God will we see His miracles. Whether opening the closed gates in an airport, providing a new job, or allowing our soulmates to find us in a disaster zone, nothing is impossible with Christ. He keeps proving that to me, over and over again. I love how He constantly shows up and gives me more than I could have imagined. What a God we serve!
And so, my repeated refrain will always be, Pray continually and expect miracles. There’s nothing as magnificent as divine intervention.