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Desperate Prayers: David’s Story

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We were heading into the mountains to hold workshops for lay leaders and pastors.

But I had a problem. I needed to talk with four different men: one to set up a team coming from a supporting church to show the Jesus film. Then three others for details about the very workshops we had come to give that weekend.

They didn’t have phones. And telegrams usually arrived after I did.

I found myself praying differently. This was out of my control. I couldn’t arrange it.

If God didn’t connect us, it wouldn’t happen. It was a mix of an expectant prayers and desperate prayers.

Number One.

We curved through the mountains via the back route, over the new bridge and up the steep dirt road.

As we approached the first small town, it was apparently a market day. Wandering crowds slowed me to a stop in the rutted dirt road. I sighed, glanced to the left.

There was one of the four men I needed to see–reclining on the grass, visiting with a friend.

Number two.

After I spoke with him and the crowds parted, we continued on up the mountain to the mother church, where we would be hosting the workshops.

As we set up that afternoon, I was visiting with several of the lay leaders. In walked another of the men I needed desperately to see.

Alright! Good work, God.

Number Three and Four.

And as you have already probably guessed, over the next two days God responded to my desperate prayers.

I crossed paths with the remaining two men. Over coffee we worked out remaining details for the workshops and arranged to show the Jesus film in three areas where the men were planting house churches.

Desperate Prayers: Why they’re such a good thing

I went away thinking about prayer and how I saw prayer. I tend to pray and then set about solving the problem, providing for the need.

But this one had been clearly beyond me. If God didn’t show up, I was hung out to dry.

Are you needing to talk with someone but don’t have a way to connect? Someone from the past? Maybe someone from the present? Perhaps someone you owe an apology? Or someone you sense God wants you to encourage?

God is pretty good at crossing paths when our “connected” world can’t.

I kinda think he likes desperate prayers.

Global veteran David Armstrong has set foot in 15 countries, and confesses that Crepes and Waffles in Bogota, Colombia is one of his favorite restaurants. Catch his classic post here on 8 Ways to Help your Family Flourish Overseas.

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Go. Serve. Love

After seven years on staff with Cru, Janel and her husband packed up their family of six to--yup, Go. Serve. Love in Uganda with Engineering Ministries International (EMI). EMI focuses on poverty relief and development, providing structural design and construction management for Christian organizations in the developing world. After 5.5 years there in East Africa, Janel and her family recently schlepped back to the U.S., where they keep working on behalf of the poor. She writes and loves on her family from Colorado. You can find more of her ideas for practical spirituality and loving each other at AGenerousGrace.com.