"Hello again God, I pray that I can have a 1cm thicker mattress. God, I pray that the TV lights will not shine on my face. God, I pray that my brother will not drool on my arm. Goodnight God, AMEN"
- Me, praying as a 7-year-old
Life took a turn when my family home was sealed, it left us homeless overnight. I could hardly understand suffering and hardships at that age. To me the hardest was watching Mummy looking busy, making calls in the distance, I could hardly hear her speech. There were no tears, so I never knew if she was sad.
For the next 7 years, my prayers hardly changed, those were the main points - God hears all faithful prayers, no matter how little we feel it is. From the days of my little needs, I began my prayer life.
1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
My prayers came through; we moved back to the home that was once sealed, I had my own bedroom. I packed along with an eye mask that Mummy had bought me to shield my eyes from my relative's late-night TV sessions.
In my reflection in later years, I have come to realize the following about God's work:
1) God often does His best works in the darkness.
When the night quietens, sufferings, hardships, brokenness are amplified. We can make choices to seek Him deeper, God works the night shifts.
Paul and Silas were able to lift their hearts in praise to God while in the Philippian jail (in Acts 16). They were up in the night for their shift. They knew that God was awake, so they blessed Him, and He sent deliverance. AMEN!
2) God works in His time
I often wonder what took God 7 years? In hindsight, He was preparing me for all that He has called me to today...
Responsibilities,
To fight as a righteous,
To be a prayer warrior for my family,
To be stirred by the homeless, the needy the poor
To NOT place my trust in wealth,
To know at the core of my heart everything I have does not belong to me -- including, my wife, she is God's.
If we want His promises, we have to trust His time.
3) God works even when He is silent
Mother Teresa spent 40 years in spiritual darkness. Abraham, the father of our faith, spent 13 years without any communication from God — and his faith only grew stronger.
Seasons of silence are a time for growth. I've learned to find light in my personal darkness.
Perhaps, we can be reminded, After all, He is never silent, all of His love is revealed in His love letter to us - the Bible. Even when we can’t hear Him, God’s speaking to us through His Word. We can hear Him speak through the pages.
God wants to draw us out of the darkness. He desires to love us and desires good for us. We can only truly appreciate joy after going through difficulty - bring along the Easter faith! Dwelling at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ brings about the wonder of Him, our risen King!
Let's hold on to the essence of Easter in our hearts in our faith walk. Everything makes a deeper sense.
AMEN. Be blessed!