“Whatever you ask in prayer ……”

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:23-25

 

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:13-14

 

After my mom’s transition from this world to heaven in April 2007, we spent time contacting relatives and friends about her passing. Travel plans were made by those coming from a distance to be with us and arrangements were made for people needing transportation from the airport in Denver to Kimball, where her memorial service was to be held. Everything was going as well as could be expected, under the circumstances, and Roger and I eagerly anticipated the safe arrival of family members who were coming from various parts of the country.

As the two of us waited in our motel room in Kimball, we spent time watching the weather reports on TV and flight information on our computer. Those of us living in the Midwest know the weather can change within a heartbeat. The more we watched the weather reports, the more anxious we became as the sunny skies in the Denver area were being replaced with the elements of ice, snow and intense wind. We began to worry about whether flights would be able to land in Denver. And if they did, would the roads be passable for our loved ones to make the three hour trip from Denver to Kimball? 
 

My heart became extremely sad thinking those who meant the most to my mom would not be able to be in attendance to celebrate her life. And, as much as I wanted them there, we just couldn’t encourage them to get on the roads and take the chance of not making it to Kimball safely. I began to pray, asking God to move the storm away from the Denver area so we could be together, as a family, to pay honor to our loved one, His child. One whose life revolved around being the Lord’s servant, doing the will of her heavenly Father and exemplifying Christ’s love to everyone. I ended my prayer with “and in all things, Thy will be done”. I can still feel the sense of calm and peace that came upon me at that moment with God, knowing everything was going to be fine. Within the hour, Roger shared the storm was moving south and losing intensity over the Denver airport. Within the next 6 hours, all of our loved ones were sleeping safely in the motel in Kimball. The following day, we were together to celebrate a life well lived and to give thanks, to God, for answered prayer.

 

PRAYER: God of our life and Lord of our souls, we thank you for prayer and the opportunity to ask and receive. Help us to more readily realize the power of prayer and more heartily embrace and believe in this wonderful gift you have graciously given to us.  Amen

Patty Niemann

reprinted from 2013