{"id":6552,"date":"2015-09-21T13:18:06","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T18:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/?p=6552"},"modified":"2017-03-20T16:56:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T21:56:46","slug":"does-god-hear-our-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/2015\/09\/21\/does-god-hear-our-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God Hear Our Prayers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"My<\/a>I woke up and there it was – a rainbow, a promise of God\u2019s love. I felt the tears sliding down my face as I had a quiet moment of worship and thanksgiving. I could feel God\u2019s kiss from heaven, surely as if He was standing there holding me in His arms.<\/p>\n

It had been a long night. I was up until 2am and now up again at 7, but you wouldn\u2019t hear me complain. This was a day for celebration, for at long last the book was complete. The manuscript I had prayed over, cried about, and often wanted to chuck out the window was finished. Every cell in my body was exhausted, and yet I was saturated with a sense of euphoria. Because I knew the book\u2019s end was a reflection of the work God had completed in me too.<\/p>\n

For more than two years God wrung me out, wrenching from the depths of my soul words I had no intention of saying out loud. Unbeknownst to me, when I started on this writing journey, He and I had very different perspectives on the message I was to deliver. His intentions were for His glory and the growth of His people. Mines were about, well, my own.<\/p>\n

Throughout the writing process I found myself frustrated and confused, as we argued about where to go next with the story. Well, I argued. He sat quietly while I went in circles, chasing my own thoughts and trying to find a work around to whatever was keeping me stuck in place. Sometimes I could pray my way through, as God\u00a0brought my mind in sync with His message. Other times\u2026I\u2019d come to a hard stop. Man, there were times I wanted to flat-out give up. Move on to something less complicated, just so I could get a sense of achievement. But my spirit would not let me rest. I knew there was something God had given me to birth, and it was only meant to stay inside for so long.<\/p>\n

So when the book was finally finished and I woke up to that rainbow, I couldn\u2019t wait to share my good\u00a0news with the world. \u00a0I posted a picture on Facebook\u00a0and shortly after, a friend\u00a0saw it\u00a0and sent me a note asking\u00a0if it was a double rainbow. I said, Yes, isn\u2019t that doubly sweet? She wrote back two words \u2013 double blessings. And that\u2019s when I remembered, and cried my little eyes out. Because in the midst of my tears and tantrums, when I had cried out to God in frustration over what had become the \u201cstupid\u201d book, I made a promise and asked God for something in return \u2013 I will not give up. I will not quit. I will finish the work you have started in me. All I ask is when this is finished you give me double for my trouble, double for my trouble and then some.<\/em><\/p>\n

That phrase \u201cdouble for my trouble\u201d became a part of my silent prayers, as over and over I asked God to give me the strength and determination to keep going, and not give up. As I looked again at the photo of the double rainbow, I realized God had heard me. He heard my cries, and answered my prayers with a beautiful sign from heaven, assuring me that He had been listening all along.<\/p>\n

I know some of you said, well of course. God is everywhere, and always hears our prayers. But can we be real for a moment? Sometimes we pray about things and hear nothing back. I mean silence so loud it is deafening. God stays quiet for so long we think He\u2019s forgotten all about us. Or we forget what we even asked for. But I just wanted to pop by today to give you a message of hope \u2013 In the midst of our worry, our suffering, our angst and our fears\u2026God hears our prayers, and he understands.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s concerned about every aspect of our lives, and even when we can\u2019t see Him, He is working behind the scenes. He knows we\u2019re struggling, and how much it hurts. He gets that we\u2019re frustrated, and ready to move on. He sees that we\u2019re trying, and just want to push through. He\u2019s not ignoring us, nor has he given up on us. So please\u2026don\u2019t give up on Him.<\/p>\n

As a sister who has just gone through a season of prayer, silence, surrender and victory \u2013 I get it and understand. Let me encourage you to keep your trust in God. Keep seeking His counsel, and patiently wait for His response. He will finish the work He has started in you. He will give you the strength to keep going, and the perseverance to see it through.<\/p>\n

Psalm 30:5 says, \u201cWeeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.\u201d Hold on for your rainbow friends! He hears our prayers, and He understands. Hugs and Love\u00a0\u2764<\/p>\n

PS \u2013 My heart goes out to all of you in the waiting season. I have just offered the prayer below for you. As you feel lead, will you share this prayer and post to encourage others? Every now and then, we all need a reminder that He\u2019s listening and He cares. I\u2019m thinking of you and praying for you often!<\/p>\n

Lord help us understand that even when we don\u2019t hear you, you\u2019ve heard us; that when we can\u2019t see you, you\u2019re still working behind the scenes; and even when we can\u2019t feel your presence, you are never far away. In Jesus name, Amen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke up and there it was – a rainbow, a promise of God\u2019s love. I felt the tears sliding down my face as I had a quiet moment of worship and thanksgiving. I could feel God\u2019s kiss from heaven, surely as if He was standing there holding me in His arms. It had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"switch_like_status":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[204997547,114917237],"tags":[401,204997597,122792808,853,204997788],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/My-rainbow.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eAxC-1HG","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9438,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6552\/revisions\/9438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}