Does God Really Answer Prayer???

There’s a big hole in my backyard that says he does.

Let me tell you about it. A little over a year ago, my wife and I decided that we needed more room for our family of 5. We live in a modest rancher, and our two girls share a room. Not normally a problem, except that one is in kindergarten and the other is in Jr. high. And it’s a small room. [Think iCarly meets Dora the Explorer.] I did something no parent should ever do—I made a promise to my oldest that she could have her own room.

We started the process of refinancing our home so that we could afford to add an extra bedroom onto our house. Before finishing the loan, I went to Sendafa, Ethiopia where God called us to adopt. As it turns out, adoption costs roughly the same as adding an addition to your home. (Who knew?) And now we had a choice to make. We were definitely planning to adopt, but the funds were already slim. (Not to mention that the “funds” were really a “loan.” So now we had a big loan to pay back, no addition, but with an extra kid in our small house!

So we started strategizing how to make it all work with the amount of money that we had. But it didn’t. In fact it didn’t even come close. At the same time, a large bill came in that was unexpected, and it seemed like were in deep trouble. For the first time in a long time, I entered a dark period of fear and doubt. It only lasted about 3 days, but it was pretty intense. We prayed, and wondered how He would make it all happen. I remembered the promise that I made to my daughter that she would get her own room. I knew that God would come through somehow—but how?

Meanwhile, my wife Lesa was telling some of this story over the fence to our neighbors. It was there that our prayer began to be answered. “I may be able to help you out,” our neighbor said. Help us out? You mean like a cup of sugar and a pint of milk, kind of help?

Nope, not that kind of help.

Turns out he meant complete help, using his abilities and his dad’s resources to build an addition onto our home.

When I look out my back screen door, and see the giant hole that will soon become an addition, I see it as a kind of reminder of the faithfulness and goodness of God. He is incredible good. He answers all kinds of prayers! And he answers them in better ways than we could ever imagine.