By Melody Vanosdol
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
I shared before there are times when we don’t necessarily realize we’re praying, and that prayer can become an automatic response, especially when we are facing challenging situations. God’s Word says, “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 big old farmhouse built in 1885 was purchased as a foreclosure. It needed A LOT of work. As time passed, it got done. But it was 1,800 square feet! That’s a whole lot of house 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 didn’t intend this big home to be just for me.” That must have been the moment God was waiting for, 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, but the same day I met my daughter, God sent someone who fixed the problem for little more than gas money. It was amazing how my life started shifting to make room for a teenager.
There were hard times, but never one moment of doubt. Everyone thought I was crazy, and I never argued that point. People would say, I didn’t know how to raise a teenager. I agreed, but reminded them, God does. I don’t know how many times I had to repeat myself. And now, many years later, I understand that no one else knows how to raise a teenager either! But God does.
When my daughter was twenty, she got pregnant. For three days, all I could say was, “God’s got this.” It had already been my catch phrase. This solidified it. It wasn’t about her, her age, the lack of marriage, or the baby. It was the sperm donor. I was terrified of this guy being attached to her and the baby for life. My repetition of the phrase “God’s got this” was me trying to convince myself of the fact. But God had that too. The same God who shut the mouths of the lions for Daniel showed up for us.
My angst was visible, likely palpable. A lady at church took my face in her hands, gently forcing me to look her in the face, and 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, and 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.
God is always faithful. I’m still working on it.
“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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