Answered Prayer, Part 2

The Saturday following Dad's death was pretty quiet. On Sunday morning the kids and I went to church. Hard. I did a lot of crying with friends, but shared the blessings and the details of how the Lord was orchestrating everything perfectly. The kids and I were so numb. I was struggling to wrap up my responsibilities, both at work and at home.

I have a team of volunteers at church that receive a weekly email from me with scheduling information and a small Scriptural challenge, usually stemming from something the Lord has been saying to me during my personal devotions. I had two weeks of emails to cover while I would be gone and I needed to get them written up and sent to my supervisor who would be covering for me. In the email for Feb 13th (the second week) I included a challenge on Ephesians 3. I had been thinking on the phrase "abundantly above all we can ask or imagine..." The Lord had been displaying this verse to me that week and I challenged them to look for ways the Lord was revealing Himself in their lives. How was He doing more than they could ask or imagine for them?

I shared this challenge with my college-age daughter as we travelled to California and she told me that in the Fall she had changed her life verse to a verse in Ephesians 3. It had great meaning for her, as well.

Fast forward a couple of days...

Wednesday morning we're sitting in Dad's funeral service and the speaker mentions that the passage Dad was studying when he died was Ephesians 3.

Ephesians 3.

Moments before he took his last breath, he was reading the same Scripture that the Lord had impressed on our hearts and minds.

Ashley and I looked at each other and started bawling. We were so amazed that God had directed us all to the same chapter in the Bible. What a huge blessing that was to us!

I was beyond excited to come back to work and share with my volunteers how the Lord had used this passage, but I had to wait the two weeks, because they wouldn't even receive my initial email until then. You can imagine how excited I was to share in the February 20th email, the revelation that moments before the Lord took Dad home, he was studying the same passage. If that didn't highlight "abundantly above all we can ask or imagine" I don't know what would.

When the volunteers finally heard the whole story we got some goosebumps together and praised the Lord! I'll never forget it!

The past month has been hard. We're grieving. We're trying to imagine how to move forward and the Lord gives us glimpses every day. Some moments are pure joy, some just back to routine. Others are sad. Others lonely. But He is faithful. He is there for us abundantly above.

He's given us others to care about and pray for to help us get our minds off ourselves. I'm reminded how thankful I am to be a part of His Kingdom work.

If you've gotten this far, you're probably thinking, "that story is so cool," but what would bless me even more is if you took a moment to search your previous week and see if you can find where the Lord revealed His abundance in your life. Where did He do more than you could have ever asked for? How did He go far and above anything you imagined?

He loves to reveal Himself.

If you didn't see Him. Look for Him this week.

When you seek Him, He will be found. He promises. (Proverbs 8:17)