Answered Prayers

It is also crazy to see how God specifically answers our prayers. I've always known that I should be careful of what I ask for, but I don't think it's good to pray with caution either. The Tuesday before last at the prison Bible study I prayed that God would make less of us and more of Him. I've prayed that before, but didn't notice Him answer it. That Friday I had a coworker cut me down like no one else has. He found out about what led me to be a chaplain and decided that I no longer deserved the respect he had previously given me. He was confident that he was a better person than me or anyone else that goes to prison. It gave me the opportunity to explain how we are all at the same level when put against God's standards of goodness. It also showed me a misunderstanding he had about Christianity and God and allowed me to share a different perspective with him. I'd like to say it ended well, but he stayed pretty upset. This then gave me the opportunity to treat him as if he hadn't said all those hateful things in the days that followed.

I shared this answer to prayer with my small group at the prison last Tuesday. This gave more opportunity to discuss a variety of things that can be more challenging as a Christian. What surprised me even more was that the same thing happened to one of the men in the group. He works in the medical wing and another guy that works in there cut him down and criticized his claim to Christ. One hard conversation for me led to many opportunities to give God glory, discuss important topics with other believers, and share the Gospel with someone who did not understand it.