As I awakened this morning it was so cold I snuggled back down under the quilts and comforter for just a few minutes longer. I had barely settled back in and said "Good Morning, Father" before the questions spilled out of my mouth about things puzzling, troubling my heart in response to prayer requests. After each prayer I would ask Him, "What is the answer?" For about two hours I could not bring myself to cease from my prayers for others bursting out of my spirit. Finally, I ended this time of prayer by asking, "What can I do, Lord?"
Over these almost 28 years of living in New Mexico, almost 15 of which I have been alone, I have visited so many people in their homes, serving their needs, and I have heard many stories, tales of woe ending with the same question, "...but what can we do?" It is not a question as much as it is a resolution or perhaps a sense of settling for what they do not understand but accept as God's will for a situation.
After praying for families, situations in our world, I finally said to God, "I need to get up and do something, Father" meaning stop laying around warming my lazy human flesh and still the grumbling voice of my empty stomach, but God wasn't finished with me yet. After listening to my petitions and questions He began to answer in that still small voice I know so well. The words I heard reaffirmed my purpose here, and confirmed the responses I've given so many times to these precious people who are hungering and thirsting for not so much an answer as more of "the Answer" Jesus. Although they may feel they already know Him as Savior, do they really believe in Him as Lord? Do we really accept that God loved us so much that He sacrificed His Son for us so we could live? Granted it's a difficult concept to wrap your mind around unless you believe as a little child.
How many times has He proven Himself to us? Rather than thank Him as we recall the wonderful answers to prayer we have already received or countless tangible blessings we have enjoyed over the years, we focus too much on the present needs. And in doing so we miss the point of faith and hope. Our prayers seem empty, because we cannot bring ourselves to lay our burdens down and truly trust God. Trust Him to perfect that which concerns us. The answer to "what can we do?" is having done all stand! Hold fast to the promises! Praise! So my answer to these kindhearted, earnestly seeking children of God is "You are praying, aren't you? Then you are doing the best thing you can do."
We, myself included, expect God to give us a sign, but we're not seeing. Just as in Jesus' day after spending so much time teaching, feeding, healing, and loving the crowds of people who flocked around Him, they had the audacity to ask Him for a sign so they would continue to follow Him. "Give us a sign as you did our forefathers when you fed them manna in the wilderness." Apparently, they had not noticed the miracles He had performed as He ministered daily in their midst. It seems a little incredulous to us, but we do the same thing today. How many times I have heard the response, "Well, all I can do is pray." That is the most important thing you can do, and with faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains IF you believe. IF you truly trust Him for the miracle you need, not our thoughts, but His. Hence, the reason He asks me, "Linda, do you really trust me?" Some days I feel like Peter did when Jesus asked him three times if he loved Him. But He makes His point. After your children come back to you for the umpteenth time asking for the same thing, do you ever find yourself saying, "We've talked about this already, son, and my answer is the same?" Well then, there you go!
I believe there is coming a day when we will see such great miracles that cannot be discredited by man, and all glory will go to God! Those days are here, and it is happening now. So please don't give up, do not be discouraged or overcome, but keep your eyes fixed on Him. And pray and believe it, because He said it would be so!
What can we do? What is the answer? Prayer! So tell everyone you know to stand fast and hold on. The best is yet to be!
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