I have been reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller over the last several weeks and meditating on his comparison of a critic to the praying life. Undeniably, I am typically a critic. I pray, but still rationalize the impossibility of an answer in my favor. If my bank account shows a minimum balance, then it is highly unlikely that it will change apart from my own work. God, I am finding, denies all probabilities.
On Monday, I called the Indiana Department of Education to find out when I could expect to hear back about my teaching license. Because I graduated from a school in Virginia, I was required to submit an application for an out-of-state license evaluation. After four weeks, I had not heard anything. When I called, they said it would take at least thirteen weeks. Disappointed, I continued on with my day. Monday night, when I got home after volleyball, I found an e-mail notifying me that my license evaluation had been approved.
This afternoon, I went to the doctor’s office for a physical as a part of my application to go to Papua New Guinea. When the nurse practitioner left the room to write a prescription for my Typhoid Vaccine, she returned with a hundred dollar bill designated for my trip. I was in utter shock. How…Why…I never, even in my wildest dreams, expected support from a complete stranger.
On the way home, I contemplated how I could ever be a critic. God continually pours down blessings upon me, working miracles in my favor. Yet I rationalize, considering answered prayer to be dependent on probability, as if it were a scientific formula. My life is a testimony that God does not confine himself to scientific formulas, but brings glory to Himself by denying probability and dealing in miracles and impossibilities.
Praise the Lord!
That is so neat, Abby! Here recently I have been reminded over and over about just how wonderfully *rich* God is…’His paths drop fatness’ 😀
Praise the Lord! Thanks for sharing 😉
Abby, thank you for sharing this! I, too, have been completely flabbergasted by God’s incredible kindness and gifts that come unexpectedly, and unlooked for. Blessed, blessed, blessed, be He!
~ Jody