BEFORE YOU ASK

A SURPRISING ANSWER

I received a surprising answer to prayer last month.

It was one of those weeks. As soon as I crossed one task off my to-do list, I remembered two more. By Friday I was completely demoralized. I griped to myself, to the cat, to a friend who called—to anyone who would listen—that I couldn’t keep up with my work. To make matters worse, as I glumly crossed off “write blog post,” and jotted “write May newsletter,” I realized my April newsletter hadn’t posted.

Unlike everything else on my list, posting the newsletter wasn’t my responsibility. I huffed a little and then settled down to compose a polite complaint to the person whose responsibility it was. That was when God surprised me with an answer: “Write her a thank-you note.” A thank-you note for publishing my April newsletter two weeks late?

A NEW IDEA

Or … How about a thank-you note for publishing my April-May newsletter two weeks early?

A completely new idea! The more I thought about it, the better I liked it. I could cross off “write May newsletter” and jot “write June-July newsletter.” With that simple change, my work load lightened. Instead of two weeks to write my next newsletter, I had six weeks!

My complaint became a request: “Please change the heading on my latest newsletter to ‘April-May’ before you publish it.” And yes, I wrote the thank-you note too: “Thank you for being an answer to prayer.”

BEFORE I ASKED

That missed deadline was an answer to a prayer I hadn’t uttered. I’d complained about too much work and too many deadlines, but I hadn’t asked God for help. I hadn’t asked God to show me how to lighten the load or prioritize my tasks. But God answered—before I asked.

That was when I remembered Jesus telling his disciples why they didn’t need to pray long prayers: “Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8). So next time I start to complain, I plan to stop and listen for God’s answer.

YOUR TURN

When have you received an answer to prayer before you asked?