On Prayer and Miracles

**I wrote this post early this past fall. And simply as an oversight, I forgot to actually post it. And today, I have a dear friend,that needs to hear these words. Because she needs a miracle in her life. And while she might have lost hope, I still believe. I really, really do.

*As always, when I tell someone else's story on my blog, I ask for their permission. Both ladies in this post have given me permission to share their very recent stories.

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In the last 2 weeks I've had one acquaintance/newer friend and 

one VERY close friend receive health miracles.

 I don't know about you, but whenever I hear of things like that happening in a personal way 

{by personal, I mean within my circle of friends} 

I sit up and take notice.

First scenario. 

 Restless Leg Syndrome for FIFTEEN years. 

Not days.
 Nor months.
 BUT YEARS. 

And from what I've heard, that's a miserable thing to have. Not only painful but it COMPLETELY interferes with sleep and we all know what happens when night after night, month after month, you don't get sleep.

Depression sets in.
 Deep, dark depression.
 Overwhelming.
 Sometimes making suicide almost seem like a viable option.

This particular gal was downtown in a big city, staying with a relative and yet again, the Restless Leg Syndrome was keeping her up all night. She said that at one point she cried out to God and said "You've got to take this away. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

And wouldn't you know it, she drifted off to sleep, slept for six hours straight {unheard of over the last 15 years} and hasn't had the Restless Leg Syndrome since then.

THAT WAS THREE MONTHS AGO.  
{actually over 7 months now since I'm posting it so late)

She calls it a miracle. 

AND SO DO I. 

She wasn't on a new medical regime. 

She wasn't doing anything different in her regular routine that might alter how her legs were feeling. She simply cried out to God. 

And He heard her cry. 

***********************

Second Scenario. Close, dear, dear friend of mine. 

One of my besties you might say. 

We've been praying for 2 years now. 

TWO YEARS. 

You see, she had a new-found love for running and was gearing up to run her first marathon. 

She LOVED running. 

And then the problems began. 

Foot problems. 

Leg problems. 

And not just minor. 

We're talking painful. 

And then there was surgery. 

And therapy. 

Test after test after test. 

Not able to walk long distances, let alone short ones. 

Doctor after doctor and no-one could find the source of the problem. 

Completely discouraged. 

As in deep, deep discouragement. 

I'd call it depression and pretty dark at that. 

I'm going to ask her to tell her full story some day because I think it's worth telling to hopefully encourage some of you, but for now, I'm going to give the condensed version. 

So two weeks ago we were together and she was so low. 

Lower than I've seen her in a long, long time. 

Wondering what the purpose was in praying.
Does God even hear our prayers?
Does he care?
What is the point of praying?
Nothing is going to change.

We gathered around her and prayed because sometimes,
when you can't pray for yourself, you need others to stand in the gap for you. 

So we cried and felt her pain. 

As best we knew how we just entered into her discouragement with her,
wishing and praying that her foot would be healed. 

We cried out to God. 

As we had for a long, long time. 

And wouldn't you know it. 

Last week I got a text and it said that she was healed.
That she was walking.
The pain was gone.
A miracle had happened.

I was a blubbering mess. 

I had heard about God doing TWO miracles in TWO weeks in my circle of friends. 

 So this morning in church we were singing a song and the words were 

"You are God ... you still heal ... you still redeem..." 

And I just wanted to yell out, "HE DOES STILL HEAL. HE HEALED MY FRIENDS. AND IT'S NOT SOME SCAM. I KNOW THEM AND I KNOW THEIR AILMENTS AND THEY ARE NOW BETTER. AND NO DOCTOR FIXED THEM. GOD DID. HE DID TWO MIRACLES." 

 But I didn't screech that out because I might have gotten a quick escort out the side door. 

But instead somewhere deep inside
I thanked the Lord for His personal touch on my friends. 

They needed that. 

I needed that. 

I needed to know that God still does answer prayer. 

 It isn't futile. 

 I don't understand it all. 

I don't understand His timing. 

And sometimes, quite frankly, I think His timing sucks. 

And I tell Him so.

And I have visions of Him sitting up in Heaven nodding His head saying, "Alysa, I know it doesn't make sense to you. I know you don't understand. I hate the brokenness in the world too and someday I'm gonna make it all right. I promise! I know you're madder-than-a-hatter because you have close friends that are suffering, but you have to trust me and believe that I am good." 

So you might ask, "Ya, well that's nice and all, but I've cried out to God and He hasn't healed me. In fact, I'm not sure I even believe He hears me when I try to pray." 

I sat at a funeral last week of a young man - 28 years old - who died of a brain tumor. 

Tragic. 

The kid was FULL of life. 

He loved Jesus and loved other people and his passion for God was contagious and inspiring. 

He was making a difference in this world. 

And then he died. 

After a long hard fight.

And I can't make sense of that and honestly, 

awhile back I decided that I'm never going to make sense of those types of things.

Mysteries. 

Maddening. 

Not understandable. 

Out of my control. 

I don't blame God. 

I can't. {And that's a post for another day.} 

And I guess I'd say that I'm not sure why God chooses to perform miracles in some instances and then others have to suffer with an illness or dark pain, or worse yet, die from that illness. 

I don't know. 

I really don't know. 

I wish I did. 

We were just talking in Bible study on Thursday morning about that very thing. 

Why do little people get cancer?  

Tell me THAT doesn't suck. 

I HATE THAT. You have NO idea how much I hate that.

This little-bit-scary thought crossed my mind today, one that I've had for a long time now, but haven't uttered out loud until this past week, to a few close girlfriends: 

What if God is boosting my faith in Him, showing me that He answers my prayers, because He knows what I'm about to face? Maybe this is a faith-building thing for me. I don't know. I just find the timing interesting and all, with finding out about these unexplainable back-to-back miracles. 

Sometimes when I'm in a reflective mood I think to myself, 

Why has God been so, SO good to me? 

I've got it so easy and cushy really. 

Great health. 

Great husband. 

Great family. 

I really don't deserve this. 

I've had the privilege to travel the world. 

I've had dear friends lose their mother and yet I still have mine. 

Dear friends have children with terrible cancer. And mine are totally healthy. 

My husband is crazy about me and I have friends where that simply isn't true. 

And on and on it goes. 

 I don't know. 

I really don't have a brilliant answer. 

I'm just spewing out my thoughts on two very difficult subjects. 

Prayer and miracles. 

This is what I do know. 

I had two friends that had severe leg issues and now they're both healed. 

And I believe God did that and He heard their prayers and
He did miracles that doctors couldn't perform.

 I believe in the power of prayer.

I know lots of folks don't.

I believe God is still in the business of doing miracles. 

I guess I just always want to make sure I'm looking for God's fingerprints. 

Everywhere. 

 And when I see Him at work, I wanna tell others about it. 

I'm hopeful that this post will encourage someone today. 

 Maybe give some hope.

 God is still in the business of doing miracles. 

I just know it. 

I've witnessed it. 

Twice in the last few weeks. 

I don't mean this post to be a post on the theology of prayer or miracles. 

I'm just a gal in Chicago telling my story and others {with their permission of course} 

hoping that somehow, in some way, it makes a difference in somebody's life. 

So in the meantime, 

I'll keep on praying 

and 

believing that God can cure and heal and perform miracles.