Prayer Works

Prayer works. OK, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Studies done on patients show that those with prayer support recover better from surgeries. I know this. God is the master healer, he made our bodies to heal, and I am not surprised when that happens. But sometimes I stand amazed at how prayer works.

This week I drove my oldest daughter Nora to Baltimore to move into her home for the next year. Our youth pastor Randall helped us make the trip, then connected with his wife who was visiting her mother in the suburbs of Baltimore.

On the way to Nora’s house, we had to take a block detour around a crime scene. Randall helped me carry a dresser to Nora’s room before I drove him to see his wife Destiny. As we pulled away, Randall, who grew up in the hood in California, asked me, “How do you feel about Nora living there?”

If Nora had chosen to live in Sandtown with some friends because it is cheap rent, I would be terrified. But Nora is living with three young women who have chosen to be part of New Song, a community development project based on the John Perkins model. The church building is on Nora’s block. Next door is another church family. On the other side is a coffee house run by church folks. The next block has been totally remodeled by the church’s Habitat project.

The morning I left we had breakfast in the coffee shop next door. The owner showed me an article in the local magazine about him and his business partner, two men who grew up in Sandtown, and used to run the drug scene. Now Gerry is pushing coffee, hot fries for students, and Jesus. I told him to watch out for my daughter, and I know he will.

As I drove away that morning I expected to be devastated, broken hearted at leaving my first-born behind, and anxious about her welfare. I expected to cry all the way to pick up Destiny and Randall.

Didn’t happen. I called Liza, she had been praying for me, and I knew that my peace was supernatural. I had been prayed for. Nora is living with a purpose in that neighborhood, and God will protect her. I will still miss her, but I enjoyed a wonderful visit getting her settled, and feel welcome to return.

Of course I know that prayer works. But when it touches me in a way that I do not expect, I am amazed. As I wrote previously about dropping Luke at college, God cares about us even in the details. He is watching over Luke, and Nora, and he even cares enough to comfort me.