Faithful Answered Prayers
After 10 Years …
I walked into the clinic like I did every Thursday to work alongside my local colleague. The medical work was what kept our family in the creative-access country we served in and this morning was routine–vaccinating, diagnosing, and doing surgeries. At lunch, Dr. D* asked me to the lunchroom to talk. Lunching together was normal, but being asked for a chat was unusual, and I was curious what my friend wanted to discuss … one of the morning’s cases or new medication perhaps?
“For the last 10 years I have watched you and your family,” he started. “I have heard what you have said and observed how you live. I think what you having been saying about God is true.”
I was stunned. For 10 years, any mention of faith had him suddenly turning to a text or a Facebook post on his phone. His wife had come to faith, as had his daughter, but he was firm in his resistance. For 10 years, I had prayed daily for God to open his eyes and his heart. He had become a true friend and a trusted fellow professional, but not yet a brother.
“It feels like the truth was always there before me, but I could never see it … and now, I can,” he said to me. We talked for a while longer, and I answered some of his questions as I tried to absorb the situation. Ten years of prayer. Ten years of lifting him daily before my Father. It had become rote. Praying for him had simply become a habit, and I kept asking, but after this many years, I did not expect him to change. And now this!
Later that week, sitting at his dining room table along with our wives and his daughter, I had the privilege of leading him to the Father. We were speaking the local language, and my grammar was a little off, but my dear friend politely repeated my stumbling words as I led him in the sinner’s prayer. God seemed to accept the poorly worded request. His eyes teared up, and he hugged his wife. We left the little family later that evening, waving to them at the door as they beamed back, shining with an irrepressible peace and joy.
The next morning, during my quiet time, my praise was two-fold. Giddy elation over Dr. D’s conversion, along with much deeper praise of God’s deep faithfulness. The faithfulness of the king of the universe to hear and respond to even our repetitive, halfhearted requests. After 10 years, my friend was now a brother.
One year ago, we had to leave the country we had served in for 15 years due to political tension. My friend, Dr. D, struggles with a chronic terminal disease that he has been battling for many years. His condition worsens. It is quite possible that I will not see him again in this world, but because of God’s faithfulness, I know we now will spend eternity together.