God's Power at Work... or Not

So, since I wrote last, Michael, Mark, and Benjamin have all come down with (or continued, in Michael's case) colds. Ummm, God, where's the healing that I thought would come? How much of it was my faith, and how much was there something in my heart trying to manipulate God. I'm not sure, and that's really not the point. The point is that, even if God lead me to anoint Michael with oil, that doesn't mean that He's going to heal Michael like He healed Matthew. In fact, I did a study of all the different ways that Jesus and the apostles healed, and I don't remember finding a single time God healed people the same way twice. So, I will continue to pray, continue to seek God on how to pray, and what my part is, and continue to trust Him for the work that needs to be done. I want to it be easy, but I wonder if God didn't heal Matthew to encourage me, even while not healing Michael to teach me to persevere in prayer.

So, God's power is at work. I was reminded at our board meeting last night of His power and protection because of His people praying. Don - who keeps our church vans up to snuff - reported on the latest repair. We used both church vans on our Winter Retreat in January. When we arrived, Nathan smelled a gas leak. They found it where entry tube (where you put the gas in) meets the tank. It seems a gasket of some sort had simply rotted away. It wasn't dangerous, but needed to be addressed. So, after returning, Don took the van in, noticing that he had trouble steering on the way to the shop - something we hadn't noticed on the way home. The finding - the steering column had two bolts missing/broken, and four loose... plus the gasket was bad. What could have happened had that column broke, come off, or done whatever might have happened if those other bolts had come out. God continues to protect us in our innocence and ignorance.

Finally, I just talked with a pastor friend in Moses Lake. It seems that his wife had a heart attack last fall. The doctors initially said that she would need at least three stints, and maybe open heart surgery. Within 24 hours, she was sent home, completely healed. She went back two weeks later, and her heart was normal. That's God answering the prayers of His people, and honoring their faith - the expectation that He wants to do something.

Thank you for your prayers. We continue to expect Him to do something in so many arenas in our lives, in the lives of the students we serve, and in the lives of our whole church. I pray that God would show up... and He wouldn't find us ignoring Him for lack of expectation.