When God Answers Prayer

Victoria Hospital Reception Carpark, Kirkcaldy, Fife.
Photo by Alan Kearns.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB)

This Testimony Tuesday post is personal and hopefully an encouragement to you today. Last Thursday was the last day of treatment at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, which had taken three weeks and six appointments. In these appointments I was having new compression bandaging for my Lymphoedema in my left leg, to reduce the swelling and improve my balance. These are regular treatments that I have had many times over the years by my Lymphoedema Therapist, who is a good friend. These usually go well and achieve their aim, the problems that arise with these appointments is surprisingly mundane – that is parking the car.

Patient parking is a serious problem in Fife’s two general hospitals, in a county with a population of about 375,000 people. In the above picture you see the main carpark for my hospital, of which only half is allocated to disabled drivers. My point being that attending hospital is both difficult and stressful, there have been times I have missed appointments completely because I could not get parked at all.

So when I received my card through the post with a list of my appointments I looked at it with some trepidation. As I thought about it I remembered I had prayed previously for individual isolated appointments, could I apply prayer to six appointments? I found myself asking whether these merited the Almighty’s attention…and in my heart I felt His Spirit say “yes!” I undertook to cover each date in prayer specifically for a parking space, and I asked other Christian brethren to pray with me on each of these days. I won’t torture you dear reader, let me tell you now that Father God provided a parking space on each of these days. His timing was always perfect, I was never late once. In fact in the picture I share my car is in the very first space closest to the entrance on the right hand side! A few days later I got the space next to that one…still close to the doors.

The hospital is about twenty minutes from my home; on these drives I turned the radio off and prayed for God to provide a parking space that would glorify Him. As I drove into the grounds of the hospital I stayed calm and refused to worry, God was in control. A couple of times I drove into the parking lot just as someone vacated a disabled space, with a queue of several cars following me. There were a couple of days when I had to do the familiar circling routine for a space, and I did get a bit stressed but I soon heard that still small voice to calm down – God was still in control. It was then I realised that there was plenty time before my appointed time, the worldly Alan wanted an early space…but that wasn’t God’s plan. On these days He provided a space at the exact moment to give me just enough time to check into the clinic on time – in His timing.

Dear reader, this Testimony Tuesday post is not about how holy Alan is – it is about the provision of Almighty God our Father. He provides what we need and when we really need it, in such a way that it makes it clear that He was the one who provided it. It is all to His Glory that we can share Him with others. The worldy Alan was worried whether six spaces in an extremely busy hospital was stretching it, but His Spirit assured me that it was no problem at all. I even used this story as it was happening to share how God answers prayer with my therapist. So dear brethren, be assured that your Father God hears your prayers, no matter how mundane they seem. He is a loving Father who will provide what you need and when you need it.

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