So often, it feels as if we are saying our prayers into a great unknown abyss. Prayer is an act of faith that tests our endurance while we wait on God. The hardest kind of praying, to me, is praying for people I don't know and will never meet. I want to know what answer my prayer will eventually receive, even if it takes 52 years to receive that answer. George Mueller, the great prayer warrior of the 19th century, prayed for the salvation of his friend for 52 years before God finally saved him.
We don't understand God's plan. Why did he wait 52 years to save George's friend? Prayers comes as we humble ourselves and we say to God, "I don't know, and I can't do anything without You." When we begin to see answers, our prayer becomes, "I don't know, but I see you working. Help me to continue." As we see God continuing to answer and provide in response to years of praying, we arrive with an increased sense of the knowledge He gave us back when we started praying. "I don't know, and I can't do anything without You." We understand that God truly is working on behalf of His loved ones to provide, teach, and grow. What did we accomplish outside of His power or without His help?
We have made it a habit to pray for our world. That was always hard for me because I hated to never be able, in this world at least, to know what became of our prayers. That "great unknown abyss." I used to wonder if God even heard my prayers from Texas for strange places on the other side of the world, 12 time zones away. Would it have helped if I said the prayers louder, as if God were hard of hearing? I really felt that way sometimes! Our little family, so small and unimportant, praying for places so far away, where big things needed to happen!
In 2004, my husband, Darin, went on a mission trip to Kyrgyzstan. He is a web/graphics guy. He and a partner, Bill, were going over there for two weeks to teach graphics design classes. Those that took the classes were going to use their knowledge to create Christian materials for distribution in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and other countries in Central Asia. This was out of his comfort zone and a friend of ours encouraged him by telling him this story:
There was a man who had been arrested and was in prison for his faith in Christ. The man received a visit from his daughter. She gave him a pen. The man took that pen and wrote scripture on any stray piece of paper that came his way and then gave the scripture away to others. Many of them became Christians from reading the scripture on those bits of paper.
Our friend encouraged Darin by telling him, "Be the pen! Be the tool that helps Christ draw others to himself!" So he went, and came back feeling as if he had been able to "be the pen."
In 2005, we began studying the Eastern Hemisphere using
Sonlight curriculum. One of the books included was titled
Praying Through the 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window. It includes prayer requests for 100 of the major cities in the 10/40 window. On page 91 of our copy is Bishkek, Kyrgystan, where my husband went. And guess what prayer request #5 is?
Pray for the distribution of the Kyrgyz New Testament and other Christian media and literature.
This book was first published in 1990. The man who sponsored Darin and his partner, Bill, in their trip, runs a print shop in Kyrgyzstan, and uses his business to support the printing and free distribution of Christian literature. One of his proudest moments was when he was able to print a little booklet of Proverbs to be distributed and used in Kyrgyz schools. He set-up his shop around the mid-90's. Then, in 2004, my husband and Bill traveled to Kyrgyzstan to teach the graphics classes. At that time, there was no school in Kyrgyzstan that taught graphic design. So now there are more people in Kyrgyzstan and the surrounding countries who can make an impact for God through printed materials.
It has been such a blessing to be able to look back and see how Darin, Bill, the print shop owner, and the others who work with him, were direct answers to prayer. I think about all the people who prayed this prayer, using this book, and I wonder how many of them know that the prayer has been, and continues to be, answered in so many different ways, through different people from all over the world. God knows our weaknesses. He knows we like to know what has happened with our prayers. Of course we won't always know what results from every prayer we pray, but do let this story remind you that God does answer prayer and that we are to remain faithful in prayer. Even if you feel as if you have to talk louder for God to hear a prayer for someone far away, like I did, a prayer whispered, or spoken loudly, will work. Just pray!
Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
- Matthew 9:37-38
Love,
Becca