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written by: Hart Dowd Biography
OF COURSE GOD ANSWERS PRAYER!
"You never know when you are the answer to someone else's prayer."
The preacher’s kitten, always adventuresome, climbed too high up a tree in the backyard and was afraid to come down. No amount of coaxing, offering warm milk, or loving words of encouragement would make that kitty come down. The preacher studied the tree, concluding that it was not sturdy enough to climb. After searching his mind for a solution, he decided to tie a rope to his car and drive slowly away, causing the tree to bend; thus enabling him to reach up and get the kitten. He checked the progress of the car frequently; then figuring that if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten, he moved a little further forward. The rope broke. "Boing!" went the tree, and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.
The preacher felt terrible. He canvassed the neighborhood, asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. But nobody had. Saddened, he prayed silently, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to Your keeping." And went on about his business.
A mother and her daughter were enjoying the warm spring sunshine, relaxing in their lawn swing, when the little girl broached her favorite subject. "Mommy, why can’t I have a kitty?" She snuggled closer to her mother.
The young mother loved her daughter, but she knew she could not grant her daughter’s wish. She detested cats. The very thought of the furry critters made her shudder. She hugged her daughter and gave her her standard answer, "You know why you can’t have a kitty, Love. We’ve talked about that many times."
The little girl was quiet for about five minutes, contentedly swaying with the rhythm of the swing. Suddenly she burst out, "Mommy, does God answer prayer?"
"Of course God answers prayer," answered her mother. "You know He does. But sometimes He doesn’t give us the answer we are expecting."
"Well, Mommy, I am going to pray for a cat." The little girl jumped down from the swing, smiling sweetly at her mother.
Taken a-back, her mother said, "Well, Honey, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it." Her mind went over the list of all her friends, and she felt pretty safe. No one she knew had a cat., so it was unlikely the little girl’s prayer would be answered.
A few days later the preacher ran into the young mother at the grocery store. He happened to glance into her shopping cart and noticed several cans of cat food. He had often talked to this woman, and knew that she was a cat hater. Puzzled, he said to her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"
"Reverend, you won't believe this," she began. And then she told him how her little girl had been begging for a cat, but she kept refusing. She told him how she had finally said to her daughter, ‘Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.’"
Smiling, and touching the preacher on the shoulder, she continued, "You know, Reverend, I had to eat my own words. I had told her that God doesn’t always answer prayer the way we expect Him to, but I guess I was thinking more of myself than I was of my little girl.
"That day I watched my child go out in the yard and get on her knees, and I knew she was asking God for a cat. And really, Preacher, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. Suddenly a kitten came flying out of the sky, landing in my little girl’s arms."
The preacher smiled, remembering his own prayer about keeping the kitten in His protective care.
Three prayers were answered that day, all in God’s own way: the preacher’s, that God would keep the kitten in His protective care; the child’s, that she have a cat; and the mother’s unspoken prayer, that she would get over her dread of cats.
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer...." Peter 3:12 NIV
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