The God Of All Comfort

James 5:16 (AMP) says:  “… The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”

Do you believe that?  I do, because time and again I’ve seen answers to prayer come to pass.  Let me share just a couple examples:

First, I wrote in Gotta Get Out Of Here, that a big concern I had once we had found a home in Texas was that our house in Oregon still hadn’t sold.  How on earth could we afford to pay 2 house payments?

That was back in December 2011.  Well come April 2012, we were in our new home, but still paying double house payments.  And the Lord had provided!  However we could definitely see our bank account dwindling rapidly.  We were praying, and our friends in Oregon were praying, as well.

I have to admit both Gary and I were getting a little nervous.  Gary had thought his employer was going to assist in selling our home in Oregon, but they told him later he had misunderstood (Moving To … Texas?).  Yet God had taken us this far.

But the house was going to sell soon, right Lord?

One sunny April day in 2012 I got a call from a good friend in Oregon who stated there was a new couple at church that was moving back to Oregon from Arizona and needed a house to rent for at least a year.  My friend had told them about our home, and they had driven by and really liked it.  Would we be interested in renting?

We were a little apprehensive, but when we connected with them they were delightful.  They agreed to pay a monthly sum which came close to paying our house payment, plus they paid all utilities and cared for the landscaping!

We realized this was a double-answer to prayer.  They were helping us with our house mortgage, and we were helping them in moving to a new area.

Boom – a huge prayer answered!

This second answer to prayer happened not too long after that.

As we were watching the news, we heard that 4 tornadoes were forming in the Dallas area, and they were directly on path to head right toward us.  The news showed a large semi-truck being picked up and literally thrown to the ground not too far away, and yes, indeed, we were a little panicked as we’d never had to deal with tornadoes before!

We kept watching the news as they showed the tornadoes coming closer.  But then all of a sudden the weatherman said they had turned and were heading in a totally different direction!

A short time later we found out why.

My same friend that I spoke about above called to check in with us later.  She said she had been meeting with another mutual friend, and suddenly they felt like they needed to start praying for us.  So they did.

I was so thankful that I posted that on Facebook, and I got a response from another friend who lives in Idaho.  She said she’d heard about the tornadoes in our area, and had felt led to start praying, as well!

Think what you want, prayer works.  I have no doubt in my mind that if my faithful friends hadn’t listened to the Lord and starting praying, that our house could have been one of the homes demolished by those tornadoes.

Psalm 10:12 (NIV) says, “Arise, Lord!  Lift up your hand, O God.  Do not forget the helpless.”

One of the lessons I learned through the testimonies of my praying friends is that when suddenly someone pops into my mind, I need to start praying for them!  No, you may not know what’s going on, but God hears your heart, and He may be using you to bring them help in what they’re going through.