"Can I really ask God for anything?"

This is the question my oldest daughter, Sara Maria, then eleven, asked one night when we gathered the kids for Bible story and prayer.   

My answer to her was, "Sure, Honey, you can ask God for anything, but his answer could be yes, no, or wait."  

With her head bowed and eyes squeezed tight, Sara Maria led us in prayer that night.  "God, would you open the way for me to go to Columbia."

Our church was planning a mission trip to Columbia, South America that summer.  Of course, Bill would go and I would stay home with the kids.  Makes sense, right?

"God, would you open the way for me to go to Columbia."  

The instant Sara Maria prayed, I knew God's answer.  "Absolutely not." Known for being the kidnapping capital of the world, Columbia, SA was not the place a good mother sends her very cute eleven-year old daughter.  God would definitely not want Sara Maria to go to Columbia.  

But, you know where this is going, right?

Bill and Sara Maria did go to Columbia, and I went with them.  

I thought I knew God's answer to prayer.  Taking your tween-y daughter to the kidnapping capital of the world makes no sense.  Getting coverage for five other children makes no sense.  Tripling our family's expense for going on a mission trip doesn't make sense.  

But it did make sense to God.  

In another part of the world frightened people gathered in an upper room to pray.  

One of their own had been arrested and thrown in prison by a mad dictator, a dictator who was fond of beheading his prisoners.  Things didn't look good.     

Night fell and the friends continued to pray and pray and pray for their friend.  As they prayed for his safety, his peace, his release, a servant girl, Rhoda, heard a knock at the door. Expecting soldiers on the other side, she didn't open it right away.  "Who is it," she whispered.   

"It's me ... Peter."

So excited, Rhoda ran back to the upper room to give the news leaving Peter standing on the street, in the middle of the night, having just miraculously escaped from prison.   

Peter kept knocking as Rhoda burst into the prayer meeting.  "Peter's at the door!"

"You're crazy. That's impossible."  They thought they knew God's answer to prayer.  

Peter at the door was impossible.  He was imprisoned, in Herod's prison.  Surrounded by guards, bound in chains, watched by sentries, closed in by an iron gate.  Peter at the door was impossible.  It didn't make sense.

But, it made sense to God.  

As Rhoda tried to convince the so very fervent pray-ers that Peter, or his angel, was at the door, Peter pressed hard into the shadows, watching for Roman soldiers and knocking.  

Softly he knocked at first, and then more loudly.   Finally up in the prayer room, someone caught the sound of his pounding getting more desperate by the minute.  Down from the upper room and to the gate, the friends pushed tripping over themselves and not even believing what was unfolding before them.  Opening the door, they saw Peter pressed into the shadows watching for Romans.   

"Peter!  Oh my goodness.  How did you get out?"  The courtyard exploded in excitement, surely drawing attention in the middle of the night.  

Peter slipped in, rubbing his knuckles.  Shushing his friends, he quietly, quickly told them of an angel, and light, and a cloak and shadows ... a captive being set free, the answer to their prayer.  Knowing that he didn't have long before soldiers would be out looking for him, he took off into the shadows.  The only reason he came to them was to tell them that their prayers had been answered. 

God's answer seemed unbelievable.  It didn't make sense.  

But it made sense to God.     

Gathered in an upper room to pray, God's answer to their prayers seemed unbelievable, impossible.  Gathered in our upper room to pray, God's answer to Sara Maria's prayer didn't make sense.   

But it made sense to God.  

What are you praying about these days?  Do you think you know how God is going to answer?  Would you consider that he might answer your prayer in a way that seems impossible, or doesn't make sense? 

• God's answer might be "Yes." But it might be "No," or even "Wait."  

• God may answer your prayer by changing your desire rather than giving you the answer you think you want.  

• God may use the challenges in your life to draw you closer to him and give you a glimpse of his perspective.  

• God may answer your prayer by bringing you disappointment in your circumstances, but greater pleasure in his presence.  

• God may answer your prayers, not with an answer that makes sense, but with an answer that lays the groundwork for his future work.  

God used the trip to Columbia, South America to light a fire in Sara Maria's life. I wish you could have seen her among the kids in the barrio.  

As Bill and I communicated through translators, Sara Maria needed no translator.  Without speaking a word of Spanish, she gathered children like a kid magnet.  "Duck, Duck, Goose-ing," laughing, playing, singing ...  she found her sweet spot, and she hasn't left.   God's answer to me and to Peter's friends didn't make sense, but it made sense to God.  

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to give you a hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

If you'd like to dig deeper:  Acts 12:1-19; Jeremiah 29:11-14; Philippians 4:6-7; 2 Chronicles 20:1-23

What questions or comments do you have about this post?  Is there something on your heart I can pray for you about?  I'd love to hear from you!  Feel free to leave me a comment, or email me directly at cynthiafin@gmail.com.