Does God answer prayer and control events?

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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

Three weeks ago my father had a heart attack. It was one event in a long history of bad health. I stood with my pastor and another elder and we prayed in agreement that if my 79 year old father was to live, he be given good health in his final years.

I was unable to rest until I drove the 450 miles to see him, so the following week I made the trip. I was going to arrive there on Wednesday and leave on Friday. I stopped along the way to see my sister and her husband. While I was there my left eye (my blind eye) became so infected I couldn’t use my good eye. I had to be driven to the nearest VA hospital by my sister. It would be another day before I would be able to see well enough to complete the trip to see my father.

When I arrived at my father’s home I decided to stay until Saturday. On Friday night, after I would have been gone by my original plan, my father became very ill and we had to call 911. My mother wouldn’t have known how ill he was except that he couldn’t stay awake to talk to me after expressing how anxious he was to do just that. The paramedics kept him alive by using paddles until he was taken to the one hospital he didn’t want to go to. They said they didn’t think he would live to make the trip to another hospital. The next three days were very difficult.

The doctor on duty that night was a no-nonsense repertory specialist. He read through my father’s records and discovered that he had been diagnosed with sleep apnea in the past but hadn’t been treating the condition. He said that his poor health was likely due to the sleep apnea and that if he didn’t treat it he would die. He also said that he would probably be able to live well if he used the therapy that had been prescribed. I was able to use my influence with my father to get him to begin using the breathing apparatus the doctor prescribed and to commit to it for the rest of his life.

Dad has been feeling better and getting stronger every day since his discharge from the hospital. His blood pressure is stabilizing, his mind is getting sharper and sharper and he is once again steady on his feet.

Before I left, I visited with his 94 year-old sister and coaxed his 92 year-old brother off his tractor to visit and show off his horse and acreage. His 88 year-old sister just got married again. I think Dad has some good years ahead of him.

Did God answer my prayer in the affirmative? Could it be that my delay in route and his admittance to a hospital he didn’t want to go where the doctor on duty was an expert on his problem was just a coincidence?
Schooling results in matriculation. Education is a process that changes the learner.
koan
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by koan »

I love these stories. I'm so happy for you that your dad got the proper diagnosis. Some would say it is coincidence. I don't believe in coincidence. Hope your eye is better.
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

koan wrote: I love these stories. I'm so happy for you that your dad got the proper diagnosis. Some would say it is coincidence. I don't believe in coincidence. Hope your eye is better.
Thank you Koan.

My eye healed very well and the episode actually turned out to be a bonus. The VA hospital didn’t have an ophthalmologist on duty so they referred me to a local clinic. The ophthalmologist that I saw pointed out that what was going on in my eye wasn’t worsening glaucoma like I thought it was. He said it was an eroded cornea that had become infected. The erosion is a condition I have in my other eye as well. He said there is an underlying condition that is causing the erosions and that he thinks it is treatable. I will be pursuing the possibility with my regular ophthalmologist.

God is good.
Schooling results in matriculation. Education is a process that changes the learner.
Jives
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Jives »

My poor wife has been hospitalized 96 times in the last ten years. She has come close to death many, many times.

Each time she was touch and go, I prayed to God to please let me have just a little more time with her.

Each time she made a recovery, sometimes miraculously so.

I'm a believer.
All the world's a stage and the men and women merely players...Shakespeare
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

Jives wrote: My poor wife has been hospitalized 96 times in the last ten years. She has come close to death many, many times.

Each time she was touch and go, I prayed to God to please let me have just a little more time with her.

Each time she made a recovery, sometimes miraculously so.

I'm a believer.
I wonder which is greater. Is it that God created and sustains the universe or is it that as small as we are in the universe He responds to each of us when we call on Him? In comparison, I can’t keep up with what is going on under the roof of my own house.

I hope you have many happy years with your wife.
Schooling results in matriculation. Education is a process that changes the learner.
Ted
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Ted »

Clint :-6

We disagree on many things but on this one we are totally agreed. God does answer prayer. I truly believe that.

I am pleased for you and your family. My father passed away a year ago Jan. 6 at 83. He had lived a long and vigorous life being very active right to the end. He was a fine Christian gentleman and my best friend, next to my wife that is. LOL.

Life in Christ is so interesting even when we disagree.

Shalom

Ted :-6
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

Ted wrote: Clint :-6

We disagree on many things but on this one we are totally agreed. God does answer prayer. I truly believe that.

I am pleased for you and your family. My father passed away a year ago Jan. 6 at 83. He had lived a long and vigorous life being very active right to the end. He was a fine Christian gentleman and my best friend, next to my wife that is. LOL.

Life in Christ is so interesting even when we disagree.

Shalom

Ted :-6
I can only imagine how it must hurt to no longer have your father and friend with you. I pray the Spirit of God is comforting you and giving you peace.

My father and I are also close, and I know I will have to let go one day. Like your father, he is Christian gentleman and like you, I know we will only be separated for a time.

Closer than my wife and my father is the Lord. You and I have Him in common, and with Him in common our disagreements don’t seem so great.

Thank you for your kind words.
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LottomagicZ4941
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by LottomagicZ4941 »

My mom always holds that everything that happens happens for God's reasons.

My pastor once said that Martin Luther stated that his greatest sin was lack of faith.

Don't know the refrence but there is one about Satan quoting scripture. Sometimes I think God has more important things then my little life and that "the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike"

Don't know why God healed my knee that one time. My big mouth? Don't know. But he did. It is said that the faith of a mustard sead can move a mountain. I had no great faith. Just thought that my knee would be healed a week or two faster. Guess somewhere between me and the youth pastor God decided to show us there was enough faith for the day.

A fool being known for his many words use to be my least favorite verse as a person who tends to be verbally prolific.

My new least favorite is the one about the people casting out deamons in his name not being known by him.
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Raven
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Raven »

Clint wrote: Three weeks ago my father had a heart attack. It was one event in a long history of bad health. I stood with my pastor and another elder and we prayed in agreement that if my 79 year old father was to live, he be given good health in his final years.

I was unable to rest until I drove the 450 miles to see him, so the following week I made the trip. I was going to arrive there on Wednesday and leave on Friday. I stopped along the way to see my sister and her husband. While I was there my left eye (my blind eye) became so infected I couldn’t use my good eye. I had to be driven to the nearest VA hospital by my sister. It would be another day before I would be able to see well enough to complete the trip to see my father.

When I arrived at my father’s home I decided to stay until Saturday. On Friday night, after I would have been gone by my original plan, my father became very ill and we had to call 911. My mother wouldn’t have known how ill he was except that he couldn’t stay awake to talk to me after expressing how anxious he was to do just that. The paramedics kept him alive by using paddles until he was taken to the one hospital he didn’t want to go to. They said they didn’t think he would live to make the trip to another hospital. The next three days were very difficult.

The doctor on duty that night was a no-nonsense repertory specialist. He read through my father’s records and discovered that he had been diagnosed with sleep apnea in the past but hadn’t been treating the condition. He said that his poor health was likely due to the sleep apnea and that if he didn’t treat it he would die. He also said that he would probably be able to live well if he used the therapy that had been prescribed. I was able to use my influence with my father to get him to begin using the breathing apparatus the doctor prescribed and to commit to it for the rest of his life.

Dad has been feeling better and getting stronger every day since his discharge from the hospital. His blood pressure is stabilizing, his mind is getting sharper and sharper and he is once again steady on his feet.

Before I left, I visited with his 94 year-old sister and coaxed his 92 year-old brother off his tractor to visit and show off his horse and acreage. His 88 year-old sister just got married again. I think Dad has some good years ahead of him.

Did God answer my prayer in the affirmative? Could it be that my delay in route and his admittance to a hospital he didn’t want to go where the doctor on duty was an expert on his problem was just a coincidence?
Not a coincidence at all! Of course He answered! As someone who has worked in hospitals for the last 16 years, I can tell you, YEP!

The healing touch of God is alive and well!

Oh and BTW.....remember the story of Jesus healing the blind guy, by spitting and making a salve with the mud? Now you know good and well, all He had to do was speak, and that blind man would've been cured just the same. But He chose to do it using a substance instead. He knew it would be easier for us to believe in the 'aspirin', but He cures the headache, just the same.
~Quoth the Raven, Nevermore!~
ANGELEYES15
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by ANGELEYES15 »

HELLO, YES I DO BELIEVE THAT YOUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED .. MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY . THIS HAS MADE MY DAY AND YOUR STORY HAS GIVEN ME HOPE . THANK YOU FOR SHARINGClint wrote: Three weeks ago my father had a heart attack. It was one event in a long history of bad health. I stood with my pastor and another elder and we prayed in agreement that if my 79 year old father was to live, he be given good health in his final years.

I was unable to rest until I drove the 450 miles to see him, so the following week I made the trip. I was going to arrive there on Wednesday and leave on Friday. I stopped along the way to see my sister and her husband. While I was there my left eye (my blind eye) became so infected I couldn’t use my good eye. I had to be driven to the nearest VA hospital by my sister. It would be another day before I would be able to see well enough to complete the trip to see my father.

When I arrived at my father’s home I decided to stay until Saturday. On Friday night, after I would have been gone by my original plan, my father became very ill and we had to call 911. My mother wouldn’t have known how ill he was except that he couldn’t stay awake to talk to me after expressing how anxious he was to do just that. The paramedics kept him alive by using paddles until he was taken to the one hospital he didn’t want to go to. They said they didn’t think he would live to make the trip to another hospital. The next three days were very difficult.

The doctor on duty that night was a no-nonsense repertory specialist. He read through my father’s records and discovered that he had been diagnosed with sleep apnea in the past but hadn’t been treating the condition. He said that his poor health was likely due to the sleep apnea and that if he didn’t treat it he would die. He also said that he would probably be able to live well if he used the therapy that had been prescribed. I was able to use my influence with my father to get him to begin using the breathing apparatus the doctor prescribed and to commit to it for the rest of his life.

Dad has been feeling better and getting stronger every day since his discharge from the hospital. His blood pressure is stabilizing, his mind is getting sharper and sharper and he is once again steady on his feet.

Before I left, I visited with his 94 year-old sister and coaxed his 92 year-old brother off his tractor to visit and show off his horse and acreage. His 88 year-old sister just got married again. I think Dad has some good years ahead of him.

Did God answer my prayer in the affirmative? Could it be that my delay in route and his admittance to a hospital he didn’t want to go where the doctor on duty was an expert on his problem was just a coincidence?
nev
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by nev »

Clint wrote: Three weeks ago my father had a heart attack. It was one event in a long history of bad health. I stood with my pastor and another elder and we prayed in agreement that if my 79 year old father was to live, he be given good health in his final years...

Did God answer my prayer in the affirmative? Could it be that my delay in route and his admittance to a hospital he didn’t want to go where the doctor on duty was an expert on his problem was just a coincidence?


This is an inspiring story with regard to both you and your father.

It is my belief that God does answer prayers and guide events but only as he knows is right for us. This is sometimes good news for us, sometimes not so good...but if we trust then we learn to accept that if we allow ourselves to be put into his hands then his way will happen.
:)
ANGELEYES15
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by ANGELEYES15 »

nev wrote: This is an inspiring story with regard to both you and your father.

It is my belief that God does answer prayers and guide events but only as he knows is right for us. This is sometimes good news for us, sometimes not so good...but if we trust then we learn to accept that if we allow ourselves to be put into his hands then his way will happen.
FOR A WHILE I STARTED TO LOSE MY WAY .. BUT THIS IS ONE OF MANY THINGS THAT HAS MADE ME GET BACK ON TRACK TO REGAINING MY FAITH.
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

ANGELEYES15 wrote: FOR A WHILE I STARTED TO LOSE MY WAY .. BUT THIS IS ONE OF MANY THINGS THAT HAS MADE ME GET BACK ON TRACK TO REGAINING MY FAITH.
By letting me know of the impact the story has had on you, you have blessed me more than you can know.
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mominiowa
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by mominiowa »

Hi there.. I am some what new here - I have been following the Jessica Story. Today - we found out my daughter who is 12 - has Lupus.. I have spent the day crying and trying to figure out what I have done so wrong the last couple years.. I have been battling cancer since 2001 - My father died 2 years ago after an 11 day coma that I spent pleading and praying - he was only 68...My husband left me and my 4 children after my 1st treatment becuase he was "scared"....and now my daughter-- I spent the day cursing God for all that has gone wrong.....I said to my mom I would never step foot back into my church and my children are going to be removed from the Catholic School they attend here----and then...........

my sister called...she said to me after I screamed all these things to her----"when have you ever thanked him for the small things...like you being alive to be a mother to your children, or the 68 years my dad had with my mom, or the kicker....the strength to care for my daughter and look her in the eye and tell her - NOTHING beats us..unless we let it...She said I was quick to blame but never to thank.... Well - I called my mom back and I said I was sorry for everything I had said.. I also said I will not let my anger take my faith - I will not let anyone win but us!!

I read your stories and just wanted to ask you for an extra prayer or two..maybe a dozen if u have the time...She is only 12 - and some days she finds it hard to get up the stairs....We start some kind of injection treatments on Monday - Please pray we have the strenght to never give up.....Thank you!


~~The Family~~

Happiness is knowing where you come from...

Who you are...

And why you are here.....
Ted
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Ted »

Mom :-6

That indeed is a tragic story. You've had more then your share and yet somehow you continue to survive. Be assured that you are not alone there are others as well.



During the past 2 years I've had a heart attack, five way bipass surger, a major aneurism in my right leg that almost cost me my life if not at least my leg. I am slowly getting over it. I have a profound hearing loss but hearing aids help. During the last year I've lost 3 members of my family, my dad and two of his sisters and on top of all that I am going blind.

Now I don't say all that for sympathy for that I don't need I just need understanding. My faith in Jesus as the Christ has been central to my life and while he did not promise that life would be easy he did promise to be there to help us through the rough spots. I firmly believe and feel that he has done that for me.

A good poem to get a hold of and read frequently is "Footprints". Sometimes there is only one set of footprints in the sand behind you and that is when He is carrying you.

You can do it with God's help. You have my prayers.

May the peace of Christ be with you and your family.

Shalom

Ted :-6
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mominiowa
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by mominiowa »

Thank you Ted!! - I realized through your story and others that I have to stop feeling sorry for myself or my family will not survive..The hardest thing I think is not being able "to fix" my it for my daughter..Moms are suppose to be able to kiss the pain and hurt away - At 12 she has taken on the role of mothers helper..as I went through chemo alone she wa there to pick up where I left off.. She helped me with my son who was 7 months old when Iw as diagnosed..and now the time she should be enjoying life she has been struggling...Its hard to understand but I do relalize that I am not alone...I am really never alone..If I didn't have "HIS" help I would have been gone a long time ago...

Peace to you - and have a good day!!

Dawn


~~The Family~~

Happiness is knowing where you come from...

Who you are...

And why you are here.....
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

mominiowa wrote: Hi there.. I am some what new here - I have been following the Jessica Story. Today - we found out my daughter who is 12 - has Lupus.. I have spent the day crying and trying to figure out what I have done so wrong the last couple years.. I have been battling cancer since 2001 - My father died 2 years ago after an 11 day coma that I spent pleading and praying - he was only 68...My husband left me and my 4 children after my 1st treatment becuase he was "scared"....and now my daughter-- I spent the day cursing God for all that has gone wrong.....I said to my mom I would never step foot back into my church and my children are going to be removed from the Catholic School they attend here----and then...........

my sister called...she said to me after I screamed all these things to her----"when have you ever thanked him for the small things...like you being alive to be a mother to your children, or the 68 years my dad had with my mom, or the kicker....the strength to care for my daughter and look her in the eye and tell her - NOTHING beats us..unless we let it...She said I was quick to blame but never to thank.... Well - I called my mom back and I said I was sorry for everything I had said.. I also said I will not let my anger take my faith - I will not let anyone win but us!!

I read your stories and just wanted to ask you for an extra prayer or two..maybe a dozen if u have the time...She is only 12 - and some days she finds it hard to get up the stairs....We start some kind of injection treatments on Monday - Please pray we have the strenght to never give up.....Thank you!


You and your daughter will be in my prayers. It is amazing to me how "bad" things destroy some people and others are made stronger by them. Your strength in the Lord is a testimony of faith to me that will help me stay strong. Thank you.
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koan
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by koan »

mominiowa,

I pray that your faith is rewarded. That you have made this far is a credit to the strength of your soul. My heart goes out to you and your family.
Ted
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Ted »

mom :-6

I don't believe that your daughter will lose anything from being called upon to help out. She will learn from it and be strengthed by it. She is to be credited for her efforts and highly praised. You have a wonderful daughter. Enjoy her and her companionship.

You are in my prayers.

Shalom

Ted :-6
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Clint
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Clint »

Raven wrote: Oh and BTW.....remember the story of Jesus healing the blind guy, by spitting and making a salve with the mud? Now you know good and well, all He had to do was speak, and that blind man would've been cured just the same. But He chose to do it using a substance instead. He knew it would be easier for us to believe in the 'aspirin', but He cures the headache, just the same.
I was very much impressed with the fact that in the episode with my father, God used people and tools made with human hands to do His work.

I still remember after all these years, the man in our community who died of treatable skin cancer because he was waiting for God to cure him. He refused medical help. I think that by refusing the medical help, he refused God’s help.
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Ted
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by Ted »

Clint :-6

I can sure go along with that one.

Shalom

Ted :-6
kensloft
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Does God answer prayer and control events?

Post by kensloft »

Yes.
koan
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Post by koan »

Clint wrote: I was very much impressed with the fact that in the episode with my father, God used people and tools made with human hands to do His work.

I still remember after all these years, the man in our community who died of treatable skin cancer because he was waiting for God to cure him. He refused medical help. I think that by refusing the medical help, he refused God’s help.


Very good point. I think a lot of errors are made when people expect God to answer in a specific way. They could get twenty responses and forms of help that are completely overlooked then they sit there disappointed and say "Where was He when I needed him most?"
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Clint
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Post by Clint »

I think of a ship at sea on a life and death secret mission. The Helmsman asks the Captain if another Seaman can take the helm watch for him. The Captain may grant permission or he may not. His reasons for not granting permission may only be known to him and divulging the reason could jeopardize the mission. The well trained Seaman simply accepts the answer knowing that he cannot know and continues carrying out his duties.

If we knew why God said no when He does, it could jeopardize our mission and the greater mission that only God can know. Knowing the greater mission would be more than my feeble mind could handle. It sure is fun to guess though.
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