Our prayers are answered when it is in the best spiritual interest of everyone involved. Sometimes it is not merely enough to ask of God. We must “listen” and act on guidance received to help God make our prayers a reality. We play an active part and the timing can be important.

My husband and I homeschool our children, and one winter I was concerned that our eldest son did not have enough social interactions with boys his age. His playmate who had been coming to my home daycare had transitioned to kindergarten at the public school. While our son had several friends who are girls, I was concerned that he was missing having boys his age to play and wrestle with. So I took my concern to God and prayed. I prayed not only for him to have a friend, but also for myself to like the mom, so that I could have a new friend as well.

We had been planning on giving our kids swim lessons at the local YMCA, but I felt guided to do it sooner than we originally had thought. So I listened to that inner guidance and signed the kids up for classes. At the first lesson I noticed a mom walk in with two boys. I felt kind of shy but talked with her a little and felt comfortable with her right away. After a few classes of sitting on the bleachers with our youngest boys squirming and playing together with trucks, I felt like she was the answer to my prayer. So I asked to exchange phone numbers and we have been friends now for several years.

The thing that touches me most from this experience is that the prayer was answered above and beyond what I had asked for with my limited vision. God had not only given my eldest son and me great friends with similar interests, He also knew that we both had younger children that would get along great too.

A few weeks ago I shared with my friend that she was an answer to my prayer, at which point she shared that she too had been praying for a friend for herself and her boys. God is great! He answers our prayers even better than we can imagine, all because He loves us.

Written by Molly Comfort