Recently I had a series of daily migraines. I have good meds that take them away so this is not as bad as it sounds, but taking Zomig too often can make my body resistant to it, as well as taking too much of any med is hard on any body. So recently I asked our pastor if he would pray for migraine relief. Sure enough the migraines slowed way down--after I got shingles. I should have reread my post on Odd Answers to Prayer because God has used this method several times before. When my daughter was about to get married, long before I had dependable Zomig to stop them, I was having daily migraines. I could fake being okay, but in order to really enjoy the wedding I wanted to be migraine free, so I asked the Lord for a reprieve. He gave me the stomach flu. Because of that, I needed to rest for two days and those restful days kept me from having a migraine on her wedding day. I wanted a miraculous respite, God gave me a nap.
My Guatemala experience was even more memorable. Toward the end of our time there I got, not Montezuma's revenge, but the revenge of whatever Mayan ruled Guatemala. This involved using a large quantity of Guatemalan toilet paper. So I was dreading the nearly 20 hours of sitting involved in flying home. I prayed that I would not notice the discomfort. At the Guatemala City airport, I bent down to pick up my briefcase and tweaked my back. Prayer answered. I did not notice the other discomfort. I decided I really should have put more thought into the wording of that prayer.
So after this incident of trading migraines for shingles, I had about decided never to ask for prayer for my headaches again. God was obviously not going to waste a miracle on me and I was rather resentful about it. Then I remembered something profoundly simple--God loves me. God loves me more than I love me and He would not cause me to suffer if there was a kinder, better way to answer my prayer. He answers as He does because I do not need a miracle, I need a nap. Miraculously removing a couple migraines would not teach me to listen to my body when it tells me to slow down. I would need miracles day after day. One thing I have noticed that about God is that He tends to use ordinary people and things to answer our prayers. He does not need to perform miracles when the things He has already put in place work just fine.
I was really embarrassed when I realized how long it took me to figure out Jesus loves me. I should have asked a preschooler. God will do what is best for me no matter how my prayer is worded. It is not about how I ask or who I ask to pray, it is, like everything in life, about God. His plan. His way. For my good--whether it seems like it or not. The fact that the God who made the universe loves me and hears my prayers is miracle enough.
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