A teen boy once asked me if I thought it was all right to ask God for a camera. He didn’t say why he asked me this question.

Prayer by a believer acknowledges God’s sovereignty, power, and faithfulness. It also demonstrated faith on the part of the person who prays, and I believe God delights in our prayers. However, prayer is not a magic formula to repeat when we want or need something. God doesn’t always give us what we ask for. Sometimes we don’t get it at all, and sometimes we have to wait.

When she was three, Amy Carmichael asked God for blue eyes. Hers were brown. She’d been taught that God answers prayer, but this time HIs answer was no. Her eyes remained brown. Many years later, when she went to India, she learned that her brown eyes allowed her to carry out her work in India as she rescued girls from slavery and shared the Gospel.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7,8

When the mechanic repaired my husband’s van a couple of months ago, he couldn’t guarantee that it would continue to run for long. As well as taking my husband to work (he’s a school bus driver), this van has been our work horse for five years, transporting household goods when we moved, and sundry other items that wouldn’t fit in a smaller vehicle.

In these challenging economic times, it’s difficult to find a used vehicle for a reasonable price. We added an affordable used vehicle to our prayer list.

God provided.

I know, it’s not a van, and it probably wouldn’t have been our first choice if we had options. It was God’s choice. He knew what my husband needed to get him back and forth to work safely, and He provided it at the right time and for the right price.

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

We haven’t always had material abundance, and we’ve lived through periods of difficulty, but God has always provided. He is faithful.

And His glory is reflected in creation.

Sincerely,

Beth