God Answers Prayers

For the past several years I have been very burdened for my friend Ray who is in the Army. He was unsaved and quite content that way. He's had some very close calls during his three deployments (he is still in his third). In June he was home on leave and we spent quite a bit of time together. During that time I was able to talk to him a little bit about God and my dad also talked to him some this year and a year ago when he was home.

Last night I chatted with him for the first time in well over a month. He was recently moved to another base and was without access to a computer for a long while. During our chat he told me that he had become very close friends with the assistant chaplain and they had a lot of really good talks. We then proceeded to have a discussion about having a religion versus having a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. In the course of this conversation he told me that he had admitted that he was a sinner in need of a Savior and had accepted Christ as his personal Savior! I was floored. A rush of about a thousand emotions ran through me, at first a little bit of apprehension and disbelief, then the realization that this was actually happening, he had really become a believer. Years of praying and begging God to save him had payed off and Ray is now a fellow Christian.

As I considered all of this, my thoughts kept going to a phrase I use quite often, "Oh me of little faith!" How I had despaired of this day ever coming. I thought that God had probably just written him off, but how wrong I was! I am so thankful for a prayer hearing and answering God. A God who loves the whole world and is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. A God who loves each one of us individually, and cares about us and our burdens. Praise the Lord!