Out of the Blue

For the past few years, I've carried a prayer in my heart for a friend who went through an awful divorce. Today, I called her out of the blue and against all odds she told me the unbelievable. She and her husband are back together. This is the fervent prayer of children of divorce: Dear God, please let my mom and dad get back together. For my friend's four kids, this prayer has been answered.

Several weeks ago I was in sitting in the rocking chair in Sully's room. I thought of all the joy motherhood has brought me and all the years I've spent rocking my babies in that chair. Out of the blue, I recalled a woman I know who has struggled to have a baby. I prayed that against all odds she would experience the joy of motherhood. Last week, this prayer, which was prayed by many, was answered.

I have been praying lately about a situation in my own life. As I started to pray for a specific outcome, I felt inspired to pray only for God's will. Daily, I have been reminding myself of the admonition: be anxious for nothing. Still, I wait with great anticipation that my answer will come out of the blue. This is hope and this is faith.

It Will Never Happen!
Last weekend, someone very close to me cried in my arms. She cried over a situation in her life that seems absolutely impossible. I asked her what she thought would make everything better and she proceeded to check off a number of things, each one in and of themselves a miracle. Then she cried, "IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!"

(I didn't tell her, but that is just fear talking.)

About a month ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she told me the last year had been a tough one. I've been praying for her, and the other day when I talked to her, she told me out of the blue that a business opportunity her husband had didn't pan out. She had no idea I'd been praying for that very opportunity. In fact, I'd asked Robert to pray about it. I told him that every day he drove down a certain street and passed a certain landmark to please pray that this opportunity would come to fruition. I was so disappointed that God didn't answer my prayer and meet my friend's needs in one fell swoop. But, I won't stop praying, even as opportunities pass us by.

Hope Does Not Disappoint
Today, I received a phone call from someone who has pretty much spent the last 20 years of her life waiting for her ship to come in. I told her about the couple getting back together and the woman becoming a mother, and she said my God, there is hope for me yet.

In early April, I faced one of the most challenging days of my adult life. It wasn't half as bad as divorce court and didn't come anywhere near the pain of child birth, but compared to my normal routine, it was pretty brutal. The blog went quiet for the first time in two years. I didn't post for a week. And, then, out of the blue, my phone rang, and mercy washed my troubles away. That is, until I picked them back up.

Evolutionary, incremental and intermittent
Sometimes, the answers to our deepest prayers appear just. like. that! Out of the blue. But, more often than not, when I look closer, I see the answers are more evolutionary, incremental and intermittent. They come only after people (those with the weakest faith and in the greatest need of a miracle) witness our stay in the miry clay about which the Psalmist wrote and U2 sang. I've said it before, the crosses we bear are good for many things. 

There is a song that Shawn Colvin sings called Never Saw Blue. It's one of my favorites. I like to imagine that it is God who is climbing the hill with me and not Richard Gere in Runaway Bride. (ha!) Here are the words:

Today we took a walk up the street,
We picked a flower and climbed a hill above the lake
Secret thoughts, you said aloud,
We watched the faces in the clouds
Until the clouds have blown away
Were we ever somewhere else you know
It's hard to say

I never saw a blue like that before
Across the sky, around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
No one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now, oh I
I never saw a blue like that


I can't believe
A month ago I was alone
I didn't know you, I've never seen you, or heard your name
And even now, I'm so amazed it's like a dream
It's like a rainbow, it's like the rain
Some things are the way they are and words just can't explain

I never saw a blue like that before
Across the sky, around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
No one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now, oh I
I never saw a blue like that before


It feels like now, it feels always,
And it feels like coming home
I never saw a blue like that before
Across the sky, around the world
You're giving me all you have and more
No one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now, oh I
I never saw a blue like that before


Oh, oh I, I never saw blue like that...

Out of the blue may we receive the answers to all of our never-gonna-happens. And if not answers, better prayers to pray.

Listen to Shawn Colvin:




Photo Credit: sbisson via Flickr