An Unusual Prayer

Written By Bethany Powell

One Sunday morning I prayed an unusual prayer. “Lord, if there is a sincere searcher for truth that needs the books that we are bringing today, keep them from going to church so that we can cross paths.” As I was walking up to my second house of the morning, I saw a family spending some time together outside. I cheerfully walked up to them and proceeded to show them almost all the books I had. In our conversation, they mentioned how they had accidentally slept in too much on that particular Sunday which made it possible for me to meet them. This was a rare occurrence since they attended church almost every Sunday. They also told me how a couple of them struggled with depression. The Lord impressed my heart to share some encouragement with them from God’s word and to show them which books would help them with depression. It was as if God sent me to have a mini personalized church service in their backyard instead of them going to their usual place of worship. In the end, they excitedly got five books (including Steps to Christ, Ministry of Healing, and Great Controversy), signed up for Bible studies, and we had a meaningful prayer together as well. As I left that house, I remembered my unusual prayer that morning. My heart surged with joy as I saw how God answered it in such a beautiful way. God will do all that it takes to give us what we are truly longing for – even if it involves making a family sleep in too long on Sunday morning.