Prayers and Answers (1)

We've prayed for so many different people and over so many different things this past month and we've also asked you to pray about specific things here.  So many of you have been faithful to love on us through your prayers.  Whether it's for our extended family here in Haiti, our own children under this roof or for family back home you have taken on our requests as your own once again and we are so grateful!

We don't believe in chance but we believe that our Great God is the ONE who answers such prayers.  Sometimes the answers are what we want and sometimes they aren't but one thing we know (and He continues to confirm) is that He can be trusted and that He is good, regardless of his answers.

While I believe God calls us to share our prayer requests with each other (James 5:16), I also believe he wants us to spur each other on by sharing in the waiting and sharing outcomes, too, (Hebrews 10:23-25) so I want to share a little with you today.

Last week when we had the biggest scare regarding Caleb's arm, we circled around him in our bedroom and all together lifted up our prayers to God as a family.  Caleb cried, I cried, and the girls had lots of questions but in the midst of all the emotions and so many unknowns one thing we all knew was that we could talk to the ONE who understood.  When we finished, John just sat and held Caleb for a while and I went outside to pray some more...

I love going out on the back balcony at night... it's quiet and peaceful and dark (except the nights that the moon is out) and I just needed/wanted to talk some more to the only one who completely understood my heart...

I walked from one end of the balcony to the other and poured it all out.  I looked down and through tears and moonlight I saw this...

Yes... seriously...

I stopped praying and ran inside to get a flashlight to confirm what I thought I saw....

The contractors have been working on the balcony for weeks to finish the railing and columns.  This is no doubt part of the concrete scraps but I don't believe anyone here formed it and left it for me.  It's not consistent with any hand formation and it isn't smooth on any side.  I do believe, however, that it is without a doubt, a personal message from the ONE who holds my heart.  

Oh, MY God, YOU are so full of compassion!

I ran back inside and plopped down in the floor next to John and Caleb with the heart in my hand and said, "Look!!!  Look what I found right outside the door!"

Caleb smiled and later said, "It can only mean one thing, Mama... we are in His loving care!"

God knew we would need this concrete heart long before we did.  It was placed in my path... for me... for my family... for my heart that was broken!  (For those of you that know about my unique little heart conversations with God, you know this was without question the peace my heart needed at the time.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'll share my 'hearts' with you in another post...my collection has really grown! J)

Caleb is doing much better and his arm is healing more each day!  We are trusting God, still, for complete healing and we thank God for you and your prayers and encouragement, too!  

Today, I am praying for you...  For each of you that reads this, I am praying that you will without a doubt hear/see/feel God's love for you today!  He may not communicate with you the same way he communicates with me but I do believe He wants to connect with you today!  God is a personal God and I believe that we DO find Him when we search for Him with our hearts.  Deuteronomy 4:29 says, "if... you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul."
  
P.S.  We'd love for you to share with us what you're finding from Him today!