Answer 10 Many Roads Chosen, Many Taken
Some of the answers to prayer that I relate may seem unimportant or coincidental or trivial in nature. To the believer in Christ, nothing in life happens by chance for Christ is interested in the grand as well as the minute details of our lives. Often, it is the small providential blessings that are the most significant but it takes spiritual eyesight to discern the Lord’s guiding hand. Most people are too busy with themselves to search out the Lord’s blessings. It would be well that we spend some time each day reviewing our lives that we may not overlook the thousands of blessings with which God showers us.
While living in the hills of Tennessee, I was frustrated at the lack of suitable roads on which to drive our cart. We had four possibilities. From our apartment, we could turn East or West or we could cross the river then follow a road to the left or right.
Each alternative had its peculiar drawbacks. The roads were either too narrow, too hilly, or too fast or a combination of all three. Because of my limited eye sight, I preferred a broad, level, straight, infrequently traveled road when driving the cart.
When we decided to move, one of the specifications I requested of the Lord was for roads suitable for driving. When expressing our desires to the Lord, it is best to be as specific as possible, not that God doesn’t know our mind but specificity in prayer helps us to decide exactly what we desire of him. Often we approach the Lord with a foggy, hazy, indefinite, vague, imprecise, or ambiguous idea, hoping he can sort through our needs and desires and come up with something that will make us happy or solve our problem.
If we approached another person in the manner we often come to God, we would be rebuffed or told to clarify our thinking before presenting our petitions. We should never fear to be precise with Christ, as we are precise with others.
Therefore, when Sevilla and I set out our desires for a home in prayer, I also specifically requested the type of roads I described earlier as the safest for us to handle.
What I had in mind were the familiar dirt roads of Michigan which perfectly fit my requirements. (I use the word “requirement’ with caution as we should never present our petitions to our heavenly Father as demands but as desires, subject to his approval.)
When the Lord showed us the house he had picked out for us, this prayer was perfectly answered in every detail. Less then three hundred feet west of our house is a dirt road that heads south into a welter of maintained and seasonal broad, straight, flat, roads, perfect for driving a gulf cart.
God is mindful of our happiness as well as our welfare. He said, “I desire above all things that ye prosper and be in good health even as thy soul prospereth.” Happiness is encompassed within this scripture for those who prosper and are in good healthy are also happy.
Praise the Lord!