Answered Prayer

We got the call about 2:30 am from Tom on Sat morning. Water had broken and Molly, Mel and I were headed to the hospital as soon as we could get there. Mel got on the phone and made us flight reservations and we were on a 6:30 heading to New York. Rebecka's parents were on the same schedule heading from Austin. Please let us make it! When we got to the JFK, Mel managed to get us hotel reservations as we waited for bags. The traffic was NY crazy but we dropped bags and ended up at the hospital about 1:30. They didn't have a waiting room on the upper floors, and security was very tight and we were not even allowed to go up, so family and friends had to wait in the lobby blow amongst small tables and chairs outside a little cafe.

Rebecka's parents beat us by 15 minutes and they did have a change to run up and give them a hug but were sent down immediately as heavy labor had begun. She pusted for about 2 hours, and finally the elevator bell rang and Tom came out with a smirk, shaking his head, no baby yet he said. But Rebecka did ask me to come down for prayers. I was just glad to lay eyes on him and get a hug myself. His face was filled with joyful anticipation and we all joined hands in the lobby and prayed as requested that God would give her the strength to push this baby on out. About an hour later he came again, Emma is stuck in place and just doesn't seem to be gaining any ground.... and again we prayed...there were about 12 of us gathered in his name, holding hands and circled in prayer. About a had an hour later Tom came back yet again, this time with concern and frustration for Rebecka who was weary and announced that they have made a C-Section call. This was God's call as had been all the others feats of this day for all of us in timing, scheduling, and wisdom.

About an hour later the elevator bell dinged, so I was told,( can you believe it Gudren, Rebecka's mom and I had finally taken a bathroom break) and Tom appeared with a smile bigger than Texas. Emma Grace was finally here. Our precious five foot two, eyes of blue daughter in law had delivered a 9.6 pound healthy baby girl. Praise God.

Did God answer our prayers? Absolutely yes. No way that baby could have come out any other way and only God could know that. So this time his answer was no. Oh how many times we see things only from our own perspective without having the privilege of seeing the whole picture. We pray accordingly. Remember that Garth Brooks hit song a while back of unanswered prayers. God is in control. There is no thwarting his efforts, We may not understand them, or like them, or agree with them, but God does listen to our prayers and answers them according to his plans not ours, for his reasons.

Every single one of us who stood in that circle and prayed for God to help Rebecka to have the strength to push this baby out was totally convinced that God had heard our prayers. But this time he answered a clear and defined NO. There was a better way out, she had tried with great determination one way but God chose the other. We too get stuck in situations that we struggle to push through. And many times we can only see one way of working through them. But God knows a different way and has options that we maybe have never considered. He sees a whole picture and knows the way that would work best according to his ultimate plans.

We circled in prayer and accepted his answer in trust. Not that we had any choice or any input, but when the decision was made, they called her mom in to answer question about allergies, and drugs etc, and Rebecka thought her mom was gonna come in and question the decision but instead she came in to comfort and in agreement saying we have prayed about this Rebecka...and are trusting God with you and with Emma, and you are going to be just fine.

That is what we are called to do as well, pray as best we can, know that the Holy Spirit will intercede praying in a way that we do not know, and then trusting God to answer our prayers according to what he sees in His whole picture. There will be times that God will answer our prayers in a way that we might have expected but so many times he answers them in ways that are for our best but do not correspond with our wishes. It is impossible to understand the infinite capacity that God has to see all things at all times and know what the future holds.So that is why we are called to have a faith and trust in what he does and how he does it.

Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Bottom line, we are all here to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We can only glorify him isf we know him, and we can only enjoy him if we truly believe in his word and trust in his every move. I couldn't help but wonder if yesterday when we were circled and praying in the middle of the lobby if God was somehow using that time as
as a seed for onlookers. We don't always know God's reasons for what he does or doesn't do, but yesterday he clearly gave each of us an AH- HA moment when we heard how big this precious baby was, and we understood immediately why he answered our prayers as he did. What a blessing that day was. Thank you God!.

Dear Lord, Thank you for faithfully listening to our prayers and showing us first hand how your answers are often "no" for a reason. And thank you for the blessing of our first Jodeit grandbaby. She is beautiful! Amen