Today I would like to welcome Bruce Atchison, a new contributor to Under the Cover of Prayer. He discusses how his prayer request changed as he grew closer to God.
The Miracle House
John MacArthur once said that providence is a far greater miracle than miracles are. Since God is all powerful, He can create whatever He wishes. With providence, countless variable factors have to line up for God’s will to be done.
A dozen years ago, I learned this important lesson.
I prayed earnestly each day for a quiet place where I could write in peace.
God seemed deaf to my cries as I waited for his answer. Wherever I moved, noisy neighbours and loud cars ruined my concentration.
In April of 2000, my mom happened to mention a real estate lady who she chatted with at the mall. When she gave me her phone number, I asked about seeing houses in small towns.
The realtor drove me to several hamlets but the houses were too expensive or not the sort I had prayed for.
The Prayer:
I asked the Lord for a home not near other houses and outside of a town with a grocery store. I also said that if the house I liked was still on the market for a few days after I saw it, I’d buy it.
The Answer:
The real estate woman drove me to Radway one afternoon. The house we looked at was located across the tracks and had no other houses nearby. The hamlet had a grocery store, post office, drugstore, and library. When I called a few days later, it was still on the market.
Additionally, I received a large payment from the federal government at that time. Since I had been a clerical worker, the government had underpaid us. The lump sum not only paid the down payment but I added a septic field to the system.
If any one of the factors had been different, I might still be renting or paying a hefty mortgage.
Thanks to God’s all-inclusive care, I now own my home and have had twelve wonderful years of solitude. Most importantly, His marvelous gift corrected my errant notion that the Lord only gave people what they needed if they worked up enough faith.
Psalm 37:4 shows that we should line up our desires with those of our Lord. He knows what will be best for us and accomplish His will as well.
“Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
I wrote about this answer to prayer in my new paperback and e-book, How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity.
Bruce Atchison
Bruce is a legally-blind freelance writer. His articles have appeared in a variety of magazines and newsletters. Additionally, he is VP of Communication for the Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater constituency association of the Wildrose Party. Atchison is also the author of three memoirs. He lives in a tiny prairie hamlet with his two house rabbits. See him at his blog (WordPress) blog (Blogspot), Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Virtual Bookworm.
Related articles
- Is God the God of Miracles? (underthecoverofprayer.wordpress.com)