Life is busy. Professors tell us to focus on their class, advisers urge us to think about the future, and society shouts at us to "have the college experience." It becomes far too easy to listen to the overbearing voices competing for our attention, and we quickly fall into "stressed out, get things done" mode. And I think we, or at least I, forget to stop and notice how God is answering our prayers. Amidst all the distractions, I block out the quiet, assuring voice of the Heavenly Father. I forget to stop and thank Him for my blessings. I forget to cast my cares onto Him. I forget to stop and see how He is answering prayers instead of asking for the next thing.
I don't know about you, but I have this habitual problem. You see, I go to God asking for guidance or asking for answers, but then I move on. My impatience gets the best of me, along with my doubt that God will show me the way. And I just make a decision, jumping blindly.
Inevitably, somewhere down the road, I realize how much simpler everything would have been had I just been willing to listen and wait. It's not that God doesn't care or that He's too busy. More often than not, I just don't listen when He answers or I don't wait for the answer. This week, God showed me that He'd been answering a prayer I didn't even remember praying.Last September when school started, my friend Katherine and I participated in a prayer walk on campus. We broke off from the group and went to the baseball field where we sat in the empty plastic chairs, and we prayed that God would show up in big ways through the baseball team.
Fast forward to January.
Sitting at FCA in the Thomas Assembly Center, God revealed how He was answering that prayer. One of the baseball players got up and shared that eight of his team members had attended the FCA retreat the weekend before, the most ever. He went on to say that God was moving in the baseball team in big ways, and there was a growing group of believers.
I almost didn't go to FCA that night, but I'm so glad that I did. I'm thankful that I took the time to stop and have community with other Christians.
Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears. God answers our prayers and they are more powerful than we can imagine.
