A truth for us as believers is that our reality here on earth does NOT only consist of three dimensions...and no I'm not going to discuss String Theory or quantum physics. But the thing is that those branches of science do open up questions and possibilities which are hints at a reality that is other than just that we can touch and see.
I have seen prayer do amazing and wonderful things. I have also seen the forces of hell pitted against the work that God is doing here on this planet and in our lives in particular. Somehow, it is important that, as we pray to God and read his Word, we understand that God is not bound by space and time. He fills it. And he is above and outside it.
Sometimes the mysteries of God's "otherness" break through into our experience and we see him do things that we cannot explain or he pulls us in directions that are strange and intriguing but which our limited understanding is just too obtuse to really comprehend what it is he is doing and what our role is to be in those dealings of God with mankind and particularly in our own experiences.
The other day I had an evening that I will not soon forget. I had been staying at my dad's so that he could take me to MD appointments and then on Thursday night, dad had bought theater tickets to see the Sight and Sound production of the story of Moses. The movie was only to show for two nights and let me tell you, it was something amazing. But my dad, sitting next to me, was struggling. He took my hand and placed it on his forehead. He was burning up! Just that day the doctor had put him on antibiotics and he took a dose at lunch but forgot to bring his dinner dose with him.
We left the theater at the end of the movie and dad struggled to push my transport chair out of the theater to the car...then his leg suddenly spasmed and sciatica kicked in...he was really struggling to walk. I was distressed to see him so sick and when he got into the car, I touched his arm and said "Dad, I'm going to pray for you"...well my prayer was not the most clear or powerful thing you would have heard because tears choked my voice and I struggled to convey to God the urgency of my prayer. Moments later I asked dad how his leg was and he said it was all better. But then....here comes the mystery folks.
My dad looked over at an older lady who was preparing to get in her car and my dad drove over and called out to her to come to his car window. He said to her, "I've been given a message to look for you here. And you are correct in every detail to the person whom I've been send to find." She had spoken to him in the parking lot prior to the movie and it was that encounter that let him know that this was the person. It turns out that she was a nun - a sister who was attending the movie with three other sisters. My dad wrote (with shaking hands) his name and phone number on the paper and gave it to her. He told her to call him, only if she wanted to and he would try to explain himself.
To my knowledge, she has not called yet. But he was so sick and hands shaking so visibly she might have thought he was not quite "all there." He told me that his girlfriend had predicted this meeting with the sister and told him about it in the days prior to attending the movie.
As we approached home in the car that night my dad commented on a bright flashing light he saw and then we turned a corner and right in front of us, in a perfectly clear sky--which had been full of clouds and rain for days and yet somehow that night there was a clear spot for God to hang the most beautiful waning crescent moon I had ever seen. It lit up the whole sky with just that thin sliver that was right above the horizon and was ENORMOUS like the harvest moons. It turns out that the next day was the new moon.
Dad spoke softly as we both stared at this sight in awe and he said, "That is a gift." As I sat in the car that night i thought over the whole experience and the night sparkled with significance. I felt sure that this Sister was meant to pray for my dad's girlfriend who is disabled and when I voiced that thought to dad, he said, excitedly., "Yes that was my thought also."
I put dad to bed that night, helping him with his nightly routines and taking the phone from his hand which he had held to his ear and fallen asleep and hung it up. By the next day he was feeling better--(Thank you Lord, for hearing my prayer.) I don't understand all that happened that night but I know that God was doing something in the "heavenlies" and I believe that his purposes were and will be accomplished as a result.
I have seen prayer do amazing and wonderful things. I have also seen the forces of hell pitted against the work that God is doing here on this planet and in our lives in particular. Somehow, it is important that, as we pray to God and read his Word, we understand that God is not bound by space and time. He fills it. And he is above and outside it.
Sometimes the mysteries of God's "otherness" break through into our experience and we see him do things that we cannot explain or he pulls us in directions that are strange and intriguing but which our limited understanding is just too obtuse to really comprehend what it is he is doing and what our role is to be in those dealings of God with mankind and particularly in our own experiences.
The other day I had an evening that I will not soon forget. I had been staying at my dad's so that he could take me to MD appointments and then on Thursday night, dad had bought theater tickets to see the Sight and Sound production of the story of Moses. The movie was only to show for two nights and let me tell you, it was something amazing. But my dad, sitting next to me, was struggling. He took my hand and placed it on his forehead. He was burning up! Just that day the doctor had put him on antibiotics and he took a dose at lunch but forgot to bring his dinner dose with him.
We left the theater at the end of the movie and dad struggled to push my transport chair out of the theater to the car...then his leg suddenly spasmed and sciatica kicked in...he was really struggling to walk. I was distressed to see him so sick and when he got into the car, I touched his arm and said "Dad, I'm going to pray for you"...well my prayer was not the most clear or powerful thing you would have heard because tears choked my voice and I struggled to convey to God the urgency of my prayer. Moments later I asked dad how his leg was and he said it was all better. But then....here comes the mystery folks.
My dad looked over at an older lady who was preparing to get in her car and my dad drove over and called out to her to come to his car window. He said to her, "I've been given a message to look for you here. And you are correct in every detail to the person whom I've been send to find." She had spoken to him in the parking lot prior to the movie and it was that encounter that let him know that this was the person. It turns out that she was a nun - a sister who was attending the movie with three other sisters. My dad wrote (with shaking hands) his name and phone number on the paper and gave it to her. He told her to call him, only if she wanted to and he would try to explain himself.
To my knowledge, she has not called yet. But he was so sick and hands shaking so visibly she might have thought he was not quite "all there." He told me that his girlfriend had predicted this meeting with the sister and told him about it in the days prior to attending the movie.
As we approached home in the car that night my dad commented on a bright flashing light he saw and then we turned a corner and right in front of us, in a perfectly clear sky--which had been full of clouds and rain for days and yet somehow that night there was a clear spot for God to hang the most beautiful waning crescent moon I had ever seen. It lit up the whole sky with just that thin sliver that was right above the horizon and was ENORMOUS like the harvest moons. It turns out that the next day was the new moon.
Dad spoke softly as we both stared at this sight in awe and he said, "That is a gift." As I sat in the car that night i thought over the whole experience and the night sparkled with significance. I felt sure that this Sister was meant to pray for my dad's girlfriend who is disabled and when I voiced that thought to dad, he said, excitedly., "Yes that was my thought also."
I put dad to bed that night, helping him with his nightly routines and taking the phone from his hand which he had held to his ear and fallen asleep and hung it up. By the next day he was feeling better--(Thank you Lord, for hearing my prayer.) I don't understand all that happened that night but I know that God was doing something in the "heavenlies" and I believe that his purposes were and will be accomplished as a result.
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