3 Simple Prayers That God Answered In An Amazing Way
Three stories that might change the way you think about simple prayers for seemingly small things
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:24, ESV)
Many verses in the Bible teach us that God wants us to pray and seek Him, but this verse adds something worth noting: He wants us to pray so we will receive from Him and be full of joy!
You might think, “Oh yes, I know that, Sharon. And I pray about all the big things like my job, health, family, church, and world events. Stuff like that.”
But what about small things? Have you ever prayed about something that seemed selfish or silly, and God answered it anyway?
I have. Many times.
People who say they don’t want to bother God with the small stuff don’t understand that with God, the Creator of the Universe, and all that is in it, it’s all small stuff.
“Sovereign LORD, you made the earth and the sky by your great power and might; nothing is too difficult for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17, GNT)
So, the question isn’t can God do something; it is, rather, will He?
That brings me to the reason I’m writing this:
When it comes to trusting my Father God, I’m like a little child. I depend on Him for everything.
So I ask. For all kinds of things.
And even after all these years of walking with Him, sometimes He surprises and humbles me with how willing He is to answer the simplest of my prayers.
Here are three examples. And yes, all of these things happened!
“Lord, would you please send someone to mow our yard?”
In April of 2017, while working at Amazon (doing work he should never have attempted at his age!), my husband, David, developed low back pain with sciatica and had to go on crutches for a week.
Our front yard is small and doesn’t take long to cut. So, with him laid up, that little chore now fell to me.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t mow the grass. I could. But I didn’t want to.
And for good reason. My hands were full — driving David to the Chiropractor, cooking, cleaning, making grocery store runs, and helping him with things he would have typically done for himself.
So, Wednesday morning, as we were getting in the car to go to the Chiropractor, seeing the length of our grass, I silently prayed,
“Lord, would you please send someone to mow our yard?”
That was it. One sentence. One simple request.
When we returned, I remember thinking, “Okay, I probably didn’t give Him enough notice (like He needs advance notice!), and that grass must be cut before it rains on Saturday.”
So, by Friday morning, I was planning option B and wondering if I might mow the yard when we returned from the Chiropractor that afternoon.
But it wasn’t necessary. To my amazement and delight, a little later, as I walked to the driveway to open the car door for David, I saw that someone had mowed the grass.
I broke into a huge grin and exclaimed excitedly, “David, look! Someone mowed our yard!”
Needless to say, we had a little praise celebration while driving to town, thanking God for His Goodness. Talk about being joy-filled!
Later, we learned that our neighbor mowed it. Before that, we had had little contact with her or her family, and we weren’t even sure she knew David was on crutches.
Call it what you want, but we call it an amazing answer to a simple prayer.
“Father, please show this guy his blinker is on”
How many times have you been driving and noticed that someone has unknowingly left their turn signal on?
It’s not only annoying, it can be dangerous.
What do we do? Ignore it? Pull up next to them (if you can), wave, point, make signs, and pray you don’t have an accident while trying to tell them their blinker is on?
I’ve been driving for decades and have encountered this situation many times. But it wasn’t until recently that I even thought to ask God to let the driver know.
The first time it happened was in the spring while starting to overtake an old pickup truck. We were in the passing lane, and he was in the slow lane with his left turn signal blinking — and it was clear he wasn’t trying to turn left.
As we drove past, I prayed,
“Father, please show this guy his blinker is on.”
I am not exaggerating. As soon as we passed the guy and looked in the rearview mirror, the blinker had stopped. It happened that fast!
Coincidence, perhaps? Maybe.
But twice? Perhaps not.
A few weeks later, the same situation occurred. And again, I prayed,
“Father, please let this person know their blinker is on.”
And as quickly as before, the blinker stopped.
I know. I’m amazed, too!
“Father, will You please heal my ear?”
A couple of years ago, at a time when I was struggling with severe insomnia, I was awakened around 3:00 AM one morning out of a solid sleep.
For some odd reason, my right ear was “crackling.” (It sounded like someone was crumpling a piece of plastic inside my ear.)
I tried rolling over. I tried drinking water. I semi-loudly but firmly said, “Noise cease! Ear be open! Drainage stop!”
I asked the Lord for wisdom and prayed in the spirit. After about 30 minutes of all of the above with NO change, I got quiet for a few minutes, then simply prayed,
“Father, will You please heal my ear?”
Almost instantly, the crackling stopped.
Initially, I was stunned. I thought: dare I move my head? Slowly, I turned it to the left, then to the right — nothing but wonderful silence.
A few moments later, I was overcome with emotion and gratitude as I realized what had just happened. God had healed my ear!
That was over two years ago, and other than a brief reoccurrence that went away quickly, I’ve not had any other issues with either ear.
Hallelujah!
I shared these stories with you not to impress you with my faith but to impart this into your thinking: Nothing is too big or too small for God.
He cares about every detail of your life.
So, bring Him all your cares and concerns, questions and dilemmas, and yes, even things that annoy you or might seem silly.
And when you do, don’t be surprised when our God — the great I AM Who CAN and WILL — makes things happen in amazing ways in your life.
Why? So that you can be full of joy!
You have His Word on it.
For more about prayer and the role it played in helping me through one of the most challenging times of my life, click below. (Non-members of Medium can read it in full here.)
