Invitation to a Life-Changing Experience With Prayer

Setting the Course

I was on a mission as I walked through the doors of our small town bookstore on that cold January day in 1999. I knew what I had come there to buy, and I quickly scanned the titles looking for the one that I had seen in the advertisement.

Unable to locate that particular book, I prayed, “Lord, show me the one that you want me to read.”

“One of the beautiful things about living a God-centered life is that very often instead of giving us exactly what we think we want, He will give us what He knows we need.”

I browsed for a short time, waiting for something to jump out at me, and then it caught my eye. I picked up Let Prayer Change Your Life by Becky Tirabassi and read the back cover.

“Becky is a prayer warrior who has changed thousands of lives through this book,” said one reader.

The words “prayer warrior” resonated with me. My sister and I had just recently had a conversation about how our maternal grandmother was also a prayer warrior, and I knew that I wanted to be more of one myself.

It clicked, and I purchased the book, along with its accompanying journal, My Partner Prayer Notebook, not realizing just how much it would impact my life in the days to come.

Although I had always prayed, Tirabassi’s book challenged me to have a more disciplined prayer life, setting aside more time each day to ready my Bible and pray. The corresponding journal contained sections for writing down my prayer requests and what I believed God was saying to me (listening), in addition to sections for recording thanksgiving, praise, scriptures read, messages, and things to do.

Journaling my prayers became an important habit. I didn’t realize it at the time, but God was setting the course for a life-changing experience in prayer, faith, and his power.

Changes Ahead

We had lived in the small western Kansas town for about four years, and we were really wanting to move back to the eastern part of the state. Tony would periodically review the job announcements for open positions within his company and then share them with me when he would come home at the end of the day. But never before had a position come open that seemed to be the right one.

Three days after purchasing the book on prayer, a newly created position was announced: Legislative Analyst. I had been watching C-Span’s legislative hearings and was very intrigued. I had brought up the subject of politics with Tony, before, asking if he would ever be interested in such a thing, but he assured me that he wouldn’t have any interest in putting himself or his family in that kind of media attention.

But Legislative Analyst sounded interesting, even though he had no experience, at all, in this area, so he went back to work after lunch and called his boss to ask about the salary. The amount that was listed wasn’t enough to meet our family’s needs, so we decided that it must not be the right job, and he shouldn’t apply. We prayed that if God wanted Tony to apply for the position, he’d give us a sign because we just didn’t see how we could do it otherwise.

The next morning, Tony’s boss called to let him know that he had been to a business meeting the night before and had heard this newly created position’s salary discussed. It wasn’t necessarily going to be as low as he had originally thought. The salary amount was still up in the air.

We knew this was the sign we had prayed about.

After talking to Tony on the phone, I opened up Joseph (by Chuck Swindoll), the book we were studying in our Sunday school class. A bookmark had been shoved into the middle of the book to a place we had not yet read, and it issued this challenge:

“Stay open to a new idea for at least five minutes. Don’t try it for an entire day, because you’ll almost panic. Just take on your day five minutes at a time. When something new, something unexpected confronts you, don’t respond with an immediate ‘Nope! Never!’ Wait five minutes. Hold off. Tolerate the possibility for five minutes. You could be surprised at the benefit of remaining open those 300 seconds.”

I knew this was meant as an encouragement for us. Then the following words came to mind:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).

The next day, Tony’s boss signed the transfer sheet, and we waited.

I began to notice that as I would pray about these things, specific biblical passages (book, chapter, and verse) would flash into my mind. These were verses that I could not have told you what they said off of the top of my head, and when I would read them, they spoke perfectly to the situation at hand:

“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” (I Corinthians 2:9 NIV).

And

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (Psalm 37:7 NIV).

I didn’t want to appear foolish to people I told these things to, almost as though we were jumping the gun. We were discussing plans to move (talking about what we might do), and Tony had not even been asked for an interview.

 But I knew that God was speaking to us. All of these things were not just coincidences, and I didn’t want to disappoint God by showing a lack of faith when I really believed something good was going to happen.

During this time, the man in charge of preparing for the interviews told Tony that he had put in a recommendation for him and that around 50 resumes had been received—some from attorneys and lobbyists. My initial reaction was one of concern, but those feelings quickly gave way to feelings of hope and inspiration. If Tony got the job, it would be because God wanted him there. Tony couldn’t take the credit. All of the glory would be given to God “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).

During our time of waiting, Tony went through two different rounds of interviews as they continued to narrow down the list of candidates, and God continued to place verses in my mind to sustain us, through His Word, during the waiting period.

“The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps” (Psalm 85:12-13 NIV).

After nearly 7 weeks of waiting, Tony called to say that he had been offered the job.

We were moving!

During that almost two-month period, when I would share with others what I believed God was doing, my words were often met with unbelief. It was as if they believed we would be disappointed in the end and, in fact, some of those closest to us shared that this was indeed their fear.

 Others who were hoping that we would not move, after all, seemed to have their hope renewed because of my inability to provide them with new information along the way.

At the time, it was frustrating to me, but I had to realize that it was okay if they didn’t understand because it wasn’t their journey. It was ours. God was speaking to us about our circumstances, not them.

And no one and nothing can interfere with God’s plans (Lamentations 3:37).

Everything in the chain of events seemed to be connected, from reading  Joseph in Sunday school, to buying, reading, and applying the principles that were learned in Let Prayer Change Your Life, to the announcement of the newly created position. It was all a perfectly designed and executed plan by God to not only move us to another part of the state (our desire) but to grow our prayer lives and trust in him.

I had prayed all of my life, but I had never experienced the types of things that happened when I dedicated myself to praying every day and writing down what I believed God was saying to me. God was opening up another world to me, and it changed the way I viewed prayer and my relationship with him from that day forward..

*NIV (1984)