News Flash: God Answers Prayer!

News Flash: God Answers Prayer!   (Reposted from CaringBridge.com

Within a half an hour of the request going out for prayer last night, Daniel's rapidly rising temperature plateaued and started back down.  By midnight it was down under 100 and this morning it was back to normal (probably much earlier, but this was the first we heard).  Thank you all for your prayers last night (and all along). 

I was marveling marveling last night at how the technology of modern "social networking" such as this site, Facebook and others, have made it possible, not just to send out prayer requests, but to get nearly immediate feedback from people around the world that are lifting up our requests for Daniel.  How wonderful for the 3 of us, late on a Sunday night, sitting in a hospital room trying not to worry about a rising temperature and starting to think through the logistics of an even longer hospital stay - to get replies from no less than 8 people in the first 15 minutes or so that they were standing with us in prayer over the situation.  Unless you've experienced that , you might not appreciate just how much that means or how much we've come to depend on those little "likes", comments, Guest Book Entries, text and email messages, etc.  Each one is a comfort and encouragement to us in those darker times when we find ourselves reaching out to the Lord and the Body again ... and again, and again.  Thank you all.

At the same time though, it's important for us, to keep the focus in the right place.  I found myself initially titling this entry as "Prayer Works" - but a little flag rose up in the back of my mind about an old pet peeve of mine - that people attribute power directly to prayer itself.  Prayer has no power of it's own.  Prayer doesn't "work" or accomplish anything.  It drives me nuts to hear of "scientific studies" regarding the efficacy of prayer, etc.  Prayer isn't (or at least shouldn't be thought of as) anything more than a name given to a conversation with God.  If I were phoning the fire department to come put out a fire at my house, I wouldn't be extolling the "power of telephones" to put out the fire would I?  I wouldn't think of performing a scientific experiment to see how many fires were put out for people who used their telephones (regardless of who they called) versus those who didn't.  The focus is that you used a telephone - it's WHO YOU CALLED - whether it's a 911 call or prayer to the Creator of the Universe! 

People write books and have arguments about how to "pray effectively" and such, but as far as I'm concerned, that's all nonsense.  Have you ever listened to recordings of 911 calls?  It's sometimes amazing that the dispatcher can understand any of it - people are yelling and crying and babbling ... just trying to get HELP.  Yet there are no books (to my knowledge) written about how to make effective 911 calls.  The point letting the person on the other end know you need HELP!  Thankfully, we have Someone on the other end of the prayer hotline Who already knows what we need and is eager to grant us what we come to Him for when we come to Him through Jesus Christ. 

So with enormous gratitude to all our family, friends, and other prayer partners for Daniel for praying alongside us and "letting our requests be made known", I want to be sure to keep the primary focus on the One who ANSWERS those prayers for us and brings us safely through all the "Floods", "Fiery Furnaces", and trials that come our way. 

Thank You Lord Jesus!!!  Thank you for answering every prayer we've ever sent you - regardless of what that answer was, it was exactly what we needed and when we needed it.  Thank You.

- Tim -