I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
Habakkuk 3:18b
If I ever needed confirmation that God has a sense of humour (other than when I look in the mirror) I received it awhile back.
Mary and I were saying prayers before supper and the subject of our oldest daughter entered the picture. We had not heard from her in some time, and were missing that contact, and knew there were health issues we prayed were being resolved.
With our eldest we have grown to accept there is little point in phoning her because as a busy operating room nurse it never seems we do anything except leave a message and hope she will reply. Exhausted and preoccupied she comes home, listens to her messages and thinks about her good intentions as she falls asleep. She then awakes to a demanding job, a busy husband and a one year old daughter.
As Mary prayed for her well being and asked for her to call, I thought “Yes Dear Lord whenever she phones, in the middle of the night or whatever time it can be, please allow this”.
When our prayers were over we began our meal. I had just brought the first forkful to my mouth when the phone rang and of course my daughter was on the line. Her first words were “I just began thinking of you and realized we had not talked for some time, Dad it felt right to phone”.
Taking advantage of this we had a long talk where all my questions were answered and I was absolutely moved by my granddaughter when with some prompting she said “Hi Papa” (some of her first words). The conversation went on for a long time and needless to say my supper was cold when I returned.
One of the techniques suggested around praying to God was to imagine Him as a person; someone I can talk to at a time where His immensity, His glorious being will not get in the way of my limited thinking. As I put my supper in the microwave I prayed (apparently you can do this) a prayer of thanks.
At that moment I saw God laughing at His handy work bewildering this saved mortal and letting me know His love and mercy comes in all shapes and sizes. Perhaps it was not parting the Red Sea and no one was raised from the dead, but He touched me and made me laugh at the same time. He took me at my word and answered my prayer.
Whenever I feel weakness and doubt I pray I will remember this event. I believe miracles occur far more regularly than we can imagine. When some amazing story comes out of our television or newspaper, I find it hard to believe everyone does not see God’s hand in it. I can hear people say “Boy was he lucky to escape that” or “How fortunate they were in this situation”.
People escape earthquakes, war zones, and terror of all kinds and see it as a fortunate coincidence. I received a phone call from my daughter and know it was God’s blessing, God’s will.