the coffee-less coffee date, red itchy eyes, and the real power of prayer. It's good to see you,

So while praying this morning, both eyes got red, itchy and swollen and so I figure I am either allergic to the cats or allergic to the Gospel of Matthew. Or even more specifically...today's Gospel. The one about Saint Matthew's conversion, leaving everything, and following Jesus.

I really hope it's the cats.

In other news, my husband and I met a man the other night for no coffee. I say no coffee, because the waitress literally never showed up and asked for our order, which would have been coffee. In fact, when we made the date on the phone with the man, it was to meet for coffee. But more than coffee, for guidance. And over no coffee he said something that surprised me...and something two days later that I am still thinking about. And so when something like this happens...words stuck in the mind...I have learned to pay attention to these words as a divine message, and not dismiss them as just annoyingly glued to my brain.

He talked about the real power of prayer. And he said, as if sharing the most incredible secret, "When I started praying, I couldn't believe the miracles..."

Who needed coffee? I was about to get some solid proof that prayer works. That prayer delivers. That my prayers are not for nothing and praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ because they might actually be about to be answered! Maybe even before the waitress realizes that one table in her station has been left for dead.

And so he continued. He shared the way that prayer has been so powerful in his life.

"I got divorced for the third time. I lost my home. I lost my job. I went bankrupt......" and honestly, I am not even sure if he said bankrupt...but I can promise you this...there was not ONE thing he shared that was GOOD. Not one! And so I was waiting for the miracle... that he won the lottery, or got remarried to the love of his life, or bought a house. But no. That was it. A string of bad luck. A litany of sorrow. A list of all the things you pray NOT to happen. But then he added....

"And I handled it all. Without drugs or alcohol I handled it. In the past a hangnail would send me over the edge, but because of the power of prayer, I handled it."

We so often think prayer is not working.

We so often feel like God is not coming through for us.

And so I can't help but think after this coffee date with no coffee...maybe we all ought to quit praying for that thing that has us so down, or so terrified, or so angry, to just go away, and instead...what if we give thanks to our God for providing the strength to handle it?

This is the beauty of getting to the end of your rope, I suppose.

The very end of yourself.

It is the miracle of sitting at the customs post.

Because it is not when everything is all cleaned up and well that you encounter Jesus and your prayers have been heard.

It is when all is a mess and the sea has not parted and no mountains have moved...but still you see Jesus is there at work, and so you drop all of the garbage and get up and follow Him.

You handle it.

You pray for the strength, and continue to follow Him, and somehow, you handle it.

Even with no coffee.

Always with prayer.