By Melody Vanosdol
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
We’ve talked before about the times we don’t necessarily realize we’re praying in my devotion An Automatic Response. God’s Word tells us that “The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). But I often feel like I’m the one with wordless groans while the Spirit is being incredibly eloquent.
January 2011 was one of those times. My house was big. It was an old farmhouse built in 1885 around which the town went up. The foreclosure that I had purchased needed A LOT of work. As time passed, it got done. But it was 1800 square feet! That’s a lot for a single woman and a cat. One day, as I walked through to the kitchen, I stopped at the bottom of the staircase. Looking up, I whispered, “Surely, you can’t mean for all of this to be just for me.”
That must have been the moment God had been waiting for. He had made me ready because the next day, God introduced me to my daughter. The day after that she moved in.
My furnace hadn’t been working for two months. The day I met her, God sent someone who fixed the problem for little more than gas money. It was amazing how my life just started shifting to make room for a teenager. There were hard times but never one moment of doubt. Everyone else thought I was crazy. I’ve never once argued that. But the argument I kept getting was that I didn’t know how to raise a teenager. I agreed and reminded them that God did. I don’t even know how many times I had to repeat that. But God certainly did! And lo this many years later, I understand that no one knows how to raise a teenager either! But God does.
When she was 20, she got pregnant. For three days, all I could say was “God’s got this.” It was kind of already my catch phrase. This solidified it. It wasn’t her, her age, lack of marriage, a baby – it was the sperm donor. But God had that too. I was terrified of this “man” being attached to her and the baby for life. Looking back, my repetition of the phrase was me trying to convince myself. (As for the “man,” the same God who shut the mouths of the lions for Daniel showed up for us.)
My angst was definitely visible, likely palpable. A lady at church took my face in her hands, gently forcing me to look her in the face, and she said, “A baby is always a blessing.” She said it matter of factly. There was no room for questioning. She was, of course, right. And God very successfully used her to diffuse my frayed nerves.
I said “yes” to a daughter. Now I have a daughter, four grandchildren and a son-in-law. God has blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined. O barren woman!
Trust IS faith. Faith IS trust. Trust God and He will bless you and multiply those blessings.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD” (Isaiah 54:1).
“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:26-28 NIV).
“He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord” (Psalm 113:9 ESV)!
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).
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