The Way God Answers Prayer

November already! Looks like we're getting our first taste of snow here in the city, although except for a dusting of the stuff on the tops of cars, it's still falling and landing much like rain. Rain! Warm enough in November for rain! Last weekend--Nov 1--it was sunny and 15C out (60F); that just does not happen in Alberta. ...I'm starting to wonder if global warming is really all that bad. ;) J/K--as neat as it is to have warmer temps around here, there are plenty of other ramifications of global warming that I don't even want to think about.

So God's been neat lately. Or maybe I'm just listening better. Or something. Since I've been a Christian, I've always known that I can go to God/Jesus with anything. He is the ultimate best friend. He is unwavering, ultimately patient, infinitely understanding, etc., etc., etc. God is the God of big things, but also of small things. He likes to hear my deep felt prayers, as well as the petty little stuff, and the stuff I keep complaining about week after week. I've never had a problem feeling that I couldn't or shouldn't bring certain issues to God. So many people often think that, "Oh, God doesn't want to hear me pray about that; that's not important enough to waste God's time with." Which is a big fat lie, and I've always known it. That being said, I am human, and I do have a tendency to pass over prayer about the little things on the basis of, "whatever, that's life. Stuff happens. I just gotta deal with it." Y'know, things like traffic jams, forgetting your lunch, discovering a hole in your favourite shirt. It's not that I don't think God doesn't want to hear about it; it's just so easy to deal with them on a human level (switch lanes, hit the McDonald's, get out a needle and thread) I often just don't take it to God. So I've been trying to do that more lately with 'little' things.

So last week at Bible study, we were doing our round of prayer requests near the close of the evening. I knew that I was getting a cold. I had already started the battle with echinacea ammo. But when it was my turn to announce any prayer requests, I stated, "I'm getting a cold. And I don't want a cold." Pretty much as simple as that. I'd never prayed through a cold before. It's just a cold, for Pete's sake. Buy Kleenex, don't drink milk, carry on.

Anyway, my cold didn't miraculously disappear (although God could have done that if He'd wanted to). And I didn't just sit there and not do anything to proactively care for my own body (I drank a LOT of tea). BUT--I realized afterwards that it was one of the shortest-duration colds I've ever had, and the only cold I remember having where I didn't feel lethargic and 'blah'. It was the best cold I ever had!

Overall, God's been showing me answers to those 'little' prayers that I've stepped out on a limb to pray about, and it's been just as cool, in a way, as the profound answers to 'large' prayers. God is so much fun.