All of us are hungry to see God. God has designed us to be most satisfied with Himself. We thirst for the Living God. Since we are students of the supernatural, I hand on to you this experience of God answering prayer to help us.
On November 1, 2022, my wife Marilyn and I were on our way to Singapore to be with friends (pictured below, but masked for security reasons). It will take the next four paragraphs for you to feel the tension and appreciate God’s care of us
We had received a picture of our host couple (at left)and the meeting place inside the Singapore airport. Previously, we had no idea what they looked like. Tired and eager to meet this couple, we did not remember the picture. We texted our hosts while in the customs line and they answered, but we couldn’t find them after we walked through the entrance doors.
Arrival and Pick Up signs pointed to a ground-level, exit location which seemed a logical place to find our hosts. We assumed they would be driving their car (we later found out they do not own a car; few Singaporeans own their own car). But they weren’t there. Traveling for two days meant our phones were dead (so were we). I went to find a charging station. Young Asians were using all the outlets. I waited. Soon, they kindly allowed me an outlet. In eight minutes I thought I had enough charge to make a call. The number we had texted in the customs line didn’t work once we entered the airport proper. We texted themanyway, then others who might have their additional phone numbers for them. No answers. By this time, we had burned an hour in our search, lugging along five large suitcases and two small ones filled mostly with gifts.
Out of power, I set off for the charging station again. Again the Asians were gracious. Then back downstairs to the Arrival / Pick Up location, hoping our hosts had showed up in my absence. They hadn’t. Another hour went by as we searched our phone contacts and our list of Asian friends and texted people who might have the right phone number. No one answered our texted messages. Even though we had no back-up plan, because friendswere praying for our trip in general, God enabled us to stay calm.
When the phone went dead again, I went upstairs for the third time. But this time, I remembered the picture. Approaching an airport employee, I asked him, “Where do you think this picture was taken in the airport?” We had seen the Arrival / Pick Up sign in the picture, but there were dozens of such signs scattered throughout the airport. Hence, no help.
The airport employee picked up on the Arrival / Pick Up location, but expanding the size of the picture–in the providence of God and in answer to prayer–he also saw the word Jewel (in white in the lower left corner of the picture at left). Jewel is the name of the eight-story atrium (pictured at right). The picture was taken within a few feet of the entrance to the Jewel. I thought, “I am standing where this picture was taken.” I looked around and there were our hosts still waiting for us and wondering where we were! They never received our second, third or fourth texts. But God had answered prayer, and taken care of us.
Several days later, we had a similar experience of dependence on God and answered prayer. We were in a taxi in Kathmandu, Nepal, when our driver got lost. He did not speak English, nor did we speak his Nepali. We tried to call anyone who we thought could help, but to no avail. We were closed up to God’s sovereign providence that our driver would eventually find the place! He got us close and Marilyn spotted it.
Three thoughts. (1) God does not answer every one of my prayers, nor as quickly as I would like. (2) God does answer prayer. “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know”(Jeremiah 33:3). “Because he loves Me, says the Lord . . . he will call upon Me and I will answer him . . . “ (Psalm 91:14 & 15). (3) The two examples above show how God applied the general prayers of our friends to our trip. Pray for people; pray for yourself. God listens.
Amen!! God has answered many prayers for us, especially in this past year! Glad to hear that trip, and your trip to Cuba went well!