Monday, February 14, 2011

When God Answers Prayer (and you don't realize it until WAY after the fact!)





So let's just get this out there right now. I have been a BAD blogger. I know it, and I would promise to change, but seriously, that probably wouldn't happen, so I'm not going to even go there. Now, on to my real reason for posting today...

We've started a new study in our Sunday school class about Prayer (from the book Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybel) Yesterday in class we discussed why, how we know when God is answering a prayer. As I was sitting there, I realized that God answered a big prayer in a way I had never realized until just that moment. You see, about five years ago I started praying that God would lead me to another job. I started putting out resumes, filling out applications, and doing everything I needed to to get back to my first love, Corporate Training. At the time there weren't many jobs out there, and I ended up getting looked over many times for someone else already employed with the company. I kept working at MSHC, and decided I would take a sign language class while biding my time at this job. Sign language is something that came very natural to me, and I could use it somewhat fluently when needed. At the time, and again not until Sunday, did I realize that the answer to me finding another job was "wait." I honestly thought the answer was "no."

Fast forward a few years. At church I was working in the nursery when I met this fabulous girl name Mary Lynn. She stole my heart from the minute I first worked with her, and I couldn't wait to get a hug and huge smile anytime I saw her. Mary Lynn's mom and I went to the same high school, but because we graduated at different times I didn't know her as well as I knew her Mom (our high school librarian.) Eryn and I were in choir together and would talk and joke about stuff, but we really never talked about how much I loved her sweet daughter. Well, as time went on, and Mary Lynn started signing more, I was able to use my knowledge from that one semester of sign language to communicate with her. In class, if the other teacher didn't know what she wanted, she would crawl to me and sign it, and I could get up and get it immediately! Pretty soon, ML had figured out that I was her "go to woman!" I kept telling Eryn that Donnie and I would love to keep ML sometime, so pretty soon Eryn asked if we could keep her while the family went to Will and Ginny's (Mary Lynn's siblings) Christmas choir program at school. Both Donnie and I were elated that we got to keep Mary Lynn, and waited with anticipation for her to get to our house. One thing Donnie hadn't counted on is the fact that Mary Lynn and I could have a whole conversation, and he would have NO idea what we were saying. Soon enough though, Mary Lynn figured Donnie out, and knew she was wrapped around his little pinky. If I said no about something, she immediately went over to Donnie, smiled and signed please.....he was all but done! One day after keeping Mary Lynn, Eryn mentioned that Mary Lynn had never had a babysitter outside of family. To this day I don't think Eryn knows quite what that did to me. For her to trust her beautiful daughter to us, to take care of, never worrying about what was going on, absolutely spoke to my heart.

You see, had I not taken that class, at a job I wanted to leave, I would never have developed this relationship with my beautiful three year old friend. Because of that class, I also developed a deeper friendship with Mary Lynn's mom, who has been one of my biggest prayer warriors over the last few years. Because of that class, at that job, I saw the world through new eyes!

So yesterday, sitting in class, I realized when I thought God was saying no, he was really saying "wait." He wanted me to stay here, to learn sign language, and to be able to communicate with a little girl who has absolutely changed the way I look at children who are different than others. Mary Lynn made me realize that God's love is perfect, and that the way HE makes us is how we are suppose to be. We are made that way for a purpose, and I think in a small way Mary Lynn's purpose in life was to teach me that I have a gift to communicate with children, both verbal and not. :)