God answers prayers

As my little sister labors to bring her daughter into this world tonight, I can't help but think back to my own daughter's birth into the world, less than 18 short months ago.
You see, my daughter was nine days past her due date and I was running out of room and patience. My sister went past her due date and it was suggested we start praying for the baby to come soon.
I was absolutely on board with this idea because I know first hand that God answers prayers!
Let me explain- as I said, I was nine days past due and the Dr was planning to induce me soon if I didn't go into labor on my own soon.
I was very, very uncomfortable and so done with being pregnant and having little feet jam into my rib cage every night. Plus, my mom had to catch her fight back to Portland in just a few short days.
It looked like that baby was not budging!
Then my family and friends decided they were going to start praying for that little girl to come "right now" and for a quick and easy delivery, free from complications.
No sooner had I gotten off the phone with my friend after her prayer and stood up off of my birthing ball (that I'd been hopelessly bouncing on for the past week) then I felt something warm and wet trickle out of me.
I was so convinced my water had broken and ran to the bathroom. When I checked, I was greeted by bright red blood- not what I was expecting at all!
I wasn't sure if this was normal or a bad thing so I called my Dr, freaked out.
He assured me it was normal and it meant I was progressing into labor. He advised me to get down to the hospital right away.
I was so excited and let my friend know her prayer had worked right away and thanked her! =)
Once at the hospital, my labor progressed quickly and without much complication. I remember after delivery, they hadn't even announced that it was indeed a girl before I started saying, "my baby girl!" and reaching for her. =)
While I was still pushing, about forty five minutes in, I asked my husband what time it was. He replied that it was 6:25am, and determined to see my baby soon, I confidently told him she'd be here by 6:30am.
He sort of laughed and said, "we'll see.. you still have a ways to go."
I was determined though and found a renewed strength to push, through the exhaustion.
I remember the push that finally did it. I pushed with everything I had and the Dr exclaimed, "Sarah! Sarah! Look! She's here!".
I had pushed my little girl out at exactly 6:31am! Lol! =D
I looked down at her, with her beautiful long eyelashes and she looked back at me, alert as ever!
She was strong from the start and could lift/turn her head. =)
By this time, my mom's two week stay had dwindled down to only three more days but when I got home from the hospital, I was so terrified of screwing something up with this new little life and had been having a hard transition so far, hormones and all!
Well, my mom was on the phone with customer service, trying to change her flight date so she could stay a bit longer. She was getting nowhere. The CSR was not budging one bit and told her it would cost her another couple hundred dollars if she wanted to cancel her current flight and book another.
Then my mother in law suggested we start praying for God to change the CSR's heart or just to change the circumstances.
I phoned my friend to join us in prayer and we all prayed while my mom finished her phone call. She was transferred to a supervisor who had the heart to help her but the computer wouldn't let her change anything.
I told my mom that God was going to intervene in this situation.
Boy did He!
The night I arrived home from the hospital, roads were closed and a blizzard seemed to have cropped up out of nowhere! It got worse through the night and the next day, as my mom was getting ready to leave and catch her fight, I happened to catch her phone buzzing and when I looked, she had an alert that her flight had been cancelled due to bad weather.
I knew this was God answering our prayers and called the company back to reschedule a later flight- a day and a half later! =D
When my mom came back into the room, ready to go, I had a huge smile on my face and asked her if she wanted the good news or bad news first. When she said the bad news, I told her she was going to have to get unpacked because God had answered our prayers! She couldn't believe it and thought I was joking at first.
God couldn't move the hearts of the CSR's, so He literally moved the weather for my mom to stay longer when I needed her most!
He is so, so Faithful!!
Update: After praying for my sister in laws labor to start, she went into early labor about ten hours later and delivered a beautiful, healthy, baby girl. Why? Because God answers prayers!! ;)

James 5:16
16 Therefore,confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

The Name of Jesus

There is great power in just speaking the name Jesus!
I suffer from anxiety a lot and one night was particularly horrible.
It was maybe about 1am and I was having such a frightening time that it had reduced me to a sobbing mess. I didn't want my husband to worry about me because he had to get up and go to work in just a few short hours. So I had tried to get some rest in the guest room that night.
Which, the rest part was so not happening! =/
I wanted to pray to God but I was such an emotional mess it was hard to gather my thoughts long enough to make anything understandable emerge from my lips.
Then I remembered a song I had recently heard on the local Christian station. One of the lines in the chorus says, "When you don't know what to say, just say 'Jesus'."
And there it was, suddenly playing through my head.
Well, I just started crying out to Him, "Jesus, Jesus!" and He is SO FAITHFUL!
My older sister is someone very special to me and God has always used us to speak to each other when we're having trouble listening to Him directly.
As I lay there crying and saying Jesus's name, my phone suddenly buzzed and I knew it could be an answer.
My sister, who I hadn't heard from for a while, had texted to see how I was doing. At 1:45am.
I wanted to lie and say everything was great but I knew God might be using her in this moment.
So I texted back to her where I was tonight and the truth about how I was really doing.
She texted me back that it was only a time of testing to grow stronger in The Lord and that I WOULD overcome this. She gave me Isaiah 43, which has been a verse God has used throughout my Christian life over and over again.
It was also a verse that my Pastor had used in his sermon just a few days before.
I told her it was funny that's the verse she would give me because I'd been hearing it a lot lately.
The Spirit works a lot that way; by confirming what He's telling you through several sources.
I asked my sister if I could call and talk to her.
When I called her, she admitted to me that she hadn't been walking very closely with God lately but that tonight she had clearly heard from Him and He was saying, "You need to reach out and encourage my daughter, Sarah, because she's having a hard time tonight."
She told me how He must really love me because she hadn't talked to Him in a while and He was very persistent in telling her to call me.
I laughed a little and told her how I was literally just crying out to Jesus moments before getting her text.
She was amazed that God was using her even when she hadn't been seeking Him lately.
I asked her about the Bible verse she gave me and told her God had used that a lot with me lately.
She told me how earlier that year, before her mission to Africa, she had gone through a significant time of anxiety and would sing those verses as loud as she could until her anxiety would subside. She told me that the enemy always attacks right before God uses us to His Glory.
We had a good conversation and I ended up encouraging her to start seeking God again and walk in His presence. So, God used both of us to encourage each other that night.
I went to sleep that night feeling very loved by both my Savior and my sister. I felt loved that Jesus would hear my desperate cry right away and actually answer me within seconds of it! It blew my mind and gave me a new confidence in His Grace.
We truly serve a compassionate God!! =)

Psalm 145:17-19
"The LORD is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does.
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them."

When you fast (The Blessings of Fasting)

I had felt The Lord calling me to fast and pray last week and so I decided on a three day fast.
When God's people fasted and prayed in the Bible, He always poured His blessings out on them and answered a lot of the prayers.
I was very excited to see this happen during my time of fasting too!
Though it was uncomfortable to be hungry and weak for those three days, from the moment I started the fast, I felt an anointed peace fall over me. Satan still tried to attack me with anxiety but it's like I was better able to see where it was coming from and God kept giving me quiet assurance.
Let me tell you, I don't understand why I haven't done this sooner! Good really DID pour His blessings out on me!
First, I had been praying for my husband to seek the things of God over the distractions of this world. The second morning of the fast he came to me and asked how my fast was going. I was very hungry at the moment and laughed a little, then replied, "it's...going.." but then he told me he could see a glow about me and that he was sure the fast was working for him too! He said he'd gone running that morning and had some time with God and that he'd asked God to give him more of an eternal perspective! Wow, God is Amazing! That is exactly what I had been praying for!
Then, later that same day, my sister texted me and asked how my fast was going. I told her it was going very well so far and that Adam said that he could feel the fast blessing him too! She texted me back, "I can too"! What a great blessing!!
Throughout the fast, God would wake me to pray for my family and the people I'd written down on my list. I believe He has not only answered those prayers but He also revealed a lot of different things about my heart through the process.
It is a humbling experience to be hungry while everyone around you is eating and I think I needed that lately.
One of the things I prayed for was that God would use Rachel to His Glory from a very young age on.
Let me tell you how he's already been answering that prayer!
A day after the fast, I was shopping at a local department store and all the clerks were saying how cute Rachel was when God led me to share the story of Him promising her to me before she was born.
Normally, I think I'd have been more hesitant but I actually just started telling the clerks about it, half expecting them to think I was crazy.
One of the very sweet ladies working there said she had goosebumps and asked me which Church I go to and to pray for her. I felt led to exchange info with her and invite her to come check out our Church. I know God touched her heart in that moment and that He will bless her! =)
So, that's another prayer answered already! God DID use Rachel to the Glory of His Kingdom ALREADY and she can't even carry on a conversation yet!
Glory be to God, for He is so Faithful!!! =D

Matthew 7: 7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Ps. There was a big, beautiful rainbow in the sky when I got home this evening! =)

Pss. Hahaha! =D There was another even bigger and brighter double rainbow just a few hours after the first one! And if you've read my post on my baptism, then you know how much I LOVE them!! ;)