October 7, 2021-Typically, I write blog posts for Biblical information, and when some people read these posts, they think of them as preaching. This is because of God’s glory to save me and give me a prophetic gift, along with the spiritual gifts of wisdom, and knowledge. Now, I am a preacher. However, I wanted to write this blog about an unthinkable prayer that happened. I know this will help people, so do not move away from this page. Hallelujah!
A family that has a mother and a father with two boys and a girl. The boys had some characteristics from their father, especially the younger one. The girl was the middle child and some of her interests was like that of her father’s interests. The children had some characteristics from their mother, but they also had many individual characteristics that created them. For the Lord, our God created all of them (Genesis 1:27).
The boys and the girl were physically a mix of their parents. Indeed, the youngest boy, and the girl had some characteristics of their mother, but the eye for the unexpected, and the curiosity for the unexplored came from her father. As the family grew, Satan found his way there, and their house became divided. The division was the result of the stubbornness of the father to not recognize that his responsibility to the family, was far greater than that of the financial provider, and that the mother tried speaking with him and tried getting counseling. Unable to set their differences aside, the couple divorced.
Now my brothers and sisters in Christ, you may have read in the Holy Bible, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Jesus Christ said that, and it is quoted in the gospels of Matthew 12, Mark 3, and Luke 11.
And the house did fall. The mother was suddenly a single a mother, and the father moved to a condominium in the same city. Custody rights of the children were granted to the mother. To the father, it seemed that the fighting and time in court over child support would never end. Why did she need so much money? He thought this adding on a little budgeting can go a long way. To the mother, it was frustrating that she should even have to do this. What did he not understand about supporting his children? The father would come on the weekends to pick up the children, but only the youngest child would go regularly, one of the boys. Why did his oldest son and daughter refuse to go?
These three children were emotionally and mentally beaten up by the divorce. The oldest boy was the pride of the family: he was athletic, did well in school and even worked part time. He excelled in almost everything and it seemed like everything came easily to him. As the years progressed, physical ailments befell on the boy who was becoming a man. The road ahead of him was unforgiving.
The mother tried counseling with the daughter, but all she wanted to do was play with the toy dolls and the toy horses in the psychologist’s office. Eventually the psychologist changed, and the second psychologist diagnosed the child with a learning disability, told the mother to give the daughter certain pills, and just like that, the case was closed. The mother supported the daughter in her creative endeavors, but the daughter never stuck with anything. The road ahead of her was relentless.
The younger boy was going between the parents’ homes, but his interest in math and science grew exponentially as he came of grew. He took a particular interest in the weather. While his room looked like a tornado always hit it, he was a smart boy and the family’s comedian. His humor would get him both in and out of trouble. The family would look to him in ways they could not look to each other. He was their comic relief. The road ahead of him was challenging.
Then one day, the father had a trip to Mexico for his business. While in Mexico, he met another woman, and married her. They moved back to the city where the family was and now that the kids were older, the oldest two children would visit them. However, when he looked for another job, the stepmother and father could not find anything, and moved back to Mexico. The children would not see or hear from their father for 13 years, with some exceptions due to needing to come back for court hearings on child support. All the children, except one then blocked the father from all social media pages.
Eventually, the kids got older, and the parents did too. The children turned to other people, science and to history, but voids would still be present on their hearts. The oldest children would get married. The youngest son and the daughter would pray, “Please Lord bring my family back together again.” The son prayed this when he was young, but the daughter prayed this when she was an adult. Upon their retirement, the father and stepmother would move out of Mexico and to Florida, 1,300 miles from the kids.
However, the oldest son called the daughter saying he thought something was wrong with the father. The daughter shook this off. “Can’t be.” Months later, the oldest received a phone call from the kids’ half-sister who is older than the kids. Yes, the father had been married previously. The half-sister said that something is wrong and had pushed the stepmother for answers. The stepmother was hesitant because she felt that she did not have answers for the oldest daughter as she was still getting a diagnosis for the father. She had many other things on her plate at that time. The daughters flew to Florida (at separate times) to see the father before he died. The youngest boy flew after the father died. The oldest boy never attempted to go to him due to his wife being pregnant and close to her due date.
Four months after the father’s death, a young man was searching for his family. He was the nephew of the father and came across the obituary of the father. The nephew then called his sister and his brother. They were not told of their uncle’s passing. The sister took initiative and found the youngest daughter on social media. Her message was simple to the daughter was simple, “My name is Erin, Bruce was my dad.” The youngest daughter was in shock, she never knew (or remembered) that Bruce had children.
A week later, Erin and the oldest daughter and the youngest daughter would connect and have conversations about their long-lost extended family members. Erin would connect the daughters with Erin’s brothers. It was then that the youngest daughter realized something: that in a way she never even thought of God had answered her prayers, by bringing family to her that she never knew (or remembered) existed.
Beloved, this story is real. The youngest daughter is me. God truly answered a simple prayer but, in my mind, I had a remarkably simple picture. God had a bigger picture. The Holy Bible says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). Hallelujah! Praise God. Concerning prayers, the Holy Bible says to “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8).
I never stopped praying for a relationship with my father, for my mother and my siblings to have peace, and for my family to be healed. I say this again, God had bigger plans, and He has plans for you! I praise you Lord for answering a prayer in a way that I never even considered, and I know You have always done this, because the Holy Bible says that you are the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).