Your Prayers have been Answered
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I was 24 years old, and I was sitting in the pool with my best friend watching our other friends hang out and play games. We’d invited everyone over to hang out for my birthday, and it felt like one of those movie montages where the light is golden and everyone is smiling as the camera pans over the perfect summer scene. I looked over at Mal and said, “This is what I’ve always dreamed of.” And it was in that moment that I knew that God knew my heart.
I’d never said that prayer out loud. I’d never written in my journal, “Lord, give me a group of friends to hang out with at my neighborhood pool.” But God knew exactly what I was calling out for from the depths of my soul.
For so long I had been longing for a community that accepted me and loved me, and I finally had it. My heart was content, and it was then that the Lord reminded me of what I’d been hoping for since I was a kid.
Since that time of my life, I’ve had similar moments where it’s like God stops me in my tracks and makes me look around and realize the life He’s sculpted for me. It’s like a gear finally finds its right setting -its missing piece - and is able to function along with the other gears. Everything falls into place, and I realize God gave me more than I could ever dream of or imagine.
Heart Prayers
And just like the friends at the pool, these desires are never explicitly written down. And don’t get me wrong, I have tons and tons of desires formulated into prayers either written down or spoken out loud, all of which have been answered in some way, shape, or another. But there’s this sub-set of prayers, these “heart prayers” as I call them, that that go deeper than anything my mind can articulate.
Off the top fo my head, I can give you four heart prayers that have been answered in the past three years:
I live in a neighborhood built over 50 years ago with diverse architecture, beautiful trees lining the streets, and sidewalks that make it so easy to walk our dog on.
Prayer answered: living somewhere beautiful and unique (I am not a fan of cookie-cutter neighborhoods where all the houses look the same. The house we found was literally the perfect one - right out of my dream).
I was really sad today because our front door wasn’t working (long story), so I couldn’t give candy out to trick-or-treaters. My husband spent a large portion of today trying to fix the door so I would be happy. The dumb door still won’t open, but it was the effort that counts :)
Prayer answered: I have a partner who knows me so well and wants me to be happy that he would spend time working on something so I could have that small moment.
Joe and I have built rhythms and routines into our life that I look forward to (shared shows, ordering out on weekends, holiday travels, etc.)
Prayer answered: When I quit teaching and moved to Northern Virginia, my life was insane (two jobs, part-time grad school, brand new city/culture.- chaos). I remember I would go home and visit my dad and stepmom, and their life seemed so stable - each weekend they go out with their friends and do house projects. I so badly wanted that, and now we’re building a life with that same type of stability.
I’ve gotten to travel to cool places with some of my favorite people. One of my favorites was going to the Dominican Republic with my best friend. It was like our last hurrah before I got engaged, and we had the adventure of a lifetime.
Prayer answered: Honestly, I wanted something like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - to have friends by my side who would go on adventures with me. I love that side of me that comes out when exploring new places, and I love scrapbooking the trip and making vlogs. The Dominican trip combined everything I loved into one, and it was awesome.
The answered prayers above are so miraculous to me because I honestly would have never even dared to imagine they were possible.
At 11 years old I was mourning the stability of my home life after my parents’ divorce. It took 20 years to reclaim the stability I never thought I’d have again.
At 17, I was trying so hard to make my high school boyfriend “the one,” but I knew deep down he wasn’t. It took 10 years to find someone who knows me inside and out and loves me like no one else has.
At 21, I was longing for a group of friends who knew and loved me, not just because I was there, but because they chose to hang out with me. And, as you read at the beginning, it took only three years to have that group, and I cherished those moments until I up-ended my life and moved to Virginia the next year.
Promised in Scripture
God knew what I needed in those moments and what I would need in the future, and He met me where I was each step of the way. He didn’t just meet me there, though. He went above and beyond what I thought I wanted and gave me the deepest desires of my heart - providing me more than I ever thought possible.
And what’s awesome about all of this is that it lines right up with Scripture:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:3-4)
God, the infinite Creator, moves beyond anything we could imagine ourselves, and with all of this power, He leans in and sculpts the unique desires of your own heart. He answers prayers in the language you were written in. He knows you, He loves you and He sees a future for you that you’d never even begin to imagine because you’d think it was out of your reach.
The act of love it takes to see you for who you are and meet you right there - to not belittle your dreams but to lift them up and make them a reality. I can’t even fathom it.
The Purpose in All This
Scripture can be pretty vague about some things, but in one thing it is crystal clear - the goal is to glorify God. Even in the Scripture in the above section, we see, “to Him be the glory” and “Take delight in the Lord.” With each testimony of God answering the unique desires of someone’s heart, it creates hope for someone else who is waiting for those prayers to be answered, especially for those who are giving the testimony.
As I write out the answered prayers and reflect on all that God’s done, I realize that He’s still writing my story. What I’m waiting for and hoping for now will be answered ten times beyond what I could have imagined on my own. It gives me hope that even when I mess up, the Lord is right there, seeing beyond my mistakes and failures - seeing beyond the struggle and worry. He sees me for me, and He’s creating something beautiful.
