24 Hour Turnaround

“Dear God,
Please let something good happen to Tricia today! I woke up thinking (worrying) about her. She’s not doing so great. She’s been so faithful and patient throughout this trial and it just seems like one bad thing after another. I get the feeling that both her patience and her faith are starting to wane. Please give her something, ANYthing that will renew her strength and peace. Something that could only be from You. By no means am I trying to tell you how to do your job, but could you please make it today? She could really use a boost! Thank you for loving us! – Amen!”

If you’ve read my 1st post ever (Jan 2010) you know that Tricia is my best friend of 25 years. You also know that she went through a divorce and a month after finalizing that she was downsized from her job as a pharmaceutical rep. It was a conversation that we had that prompted me start this blog. If you haven’t already read that 1st post I encourage you to do so now. This is the follow-up.

I said the above prayer before getting out of bed one morning. At the time Tricia had been out of work for almost a year and the stress was really starting to get her down. Leads on jobs were few and far between. I wanted to call her right away to check on how she was doing, but thought I should probably give God at least a little time to work His magic. About 3 hours later my phone rang and it was her. I was just sure she was calling me with some good news. Even if it was just to say that she was in better spirits – I would consider that a prayer answered. So I picked up the phone…

“Hellooo…?” I said with anticipation.

“Oh my gosh! You’re never going to believe what happened to me!”

“What?” I asked, thinking this was going to be good!

“I went to take a bath this morning and when the tub was full I went to turn off the water but it wouldn’t turn off! It just kept running and running and I had to unplug the tub so that it wouldn’t overflow. Can you believe that? I mean how much worse can things get? There’s a plumber here right now trying to fix it.”

“Well…is he at least cute?” I asked trying to figure out an angle as to how this situation could be used for good.

“NO he’s not cute! Doesn’t the phrase ‘plumber’s crack’ mean anything to you? Plus it’s still early and he already smells like a sewer!”

At that we both burst out laughing! I mean seriously how much worse could it get?! By this point it was just comical! And then to add to the humor of it all, I told her about the prayer I’d said for her that morning (more laughter). As we tried to recover from our giggling she did manage to say that maybe I should keep my prayers to myself. Either that or be much more specific about what I wanted for her! Then she asked if she could call me back because the plumber needed to speak with her.

“OK” I said, “just breathe through your mouth!” – more giggles!

When she called back she was in much better spirits because not only had the plumber fixed the problem but he also fixed the leak that she’d had prior, and he did it all for under $200. We thought that was pretty good considering that it was an emergency call and she’d gotten more than she’d bargained for. So maybe that was the good thing. Or maybe this was a blessing in disguise because the weathermen were all predicting a severe snow/ice storm 100% to be moving in the next day. What if her faucet broke during that time? That would really be bad!

After we hung up I felt relieved that we had been able to find some humor in the moment and that it actually did turn out in her favor. I thanked God for that and went about my day. At about 4:00 that afternoon Tricia called again,

“Hellooo…?”

“Oh my gosh! You’re never going to believe what just happened to me!”

“Oh no”, I thought, “What now?”

“I just got a call from a friend of mine about a lead on a pharmaceutical position. He knows the hiring manager really well and can put in a good word for me, but I also know the hiring manager because he used to work for the same company as me, and the job sounds perfect! How’s that for something good happening to me today?”

“That’s awesome!” I replied.

“From now on I’m just going to send you a list everyday and I expect you to get busy praying since you seem to have a 24-hour turnaround!”

Tricia did in fact get that job and I take FULL credit (just kidding)! It was all her (with God of course!) and it wasn’t easy. It’s a really competitive environment to begin with, but right now there are a lot of talented, quality people out there looking for work. She went through several rounds of interviews and even came down with laryngitis on one of the most crucial days. But she had God’s favor and He proved that He can overcome ALL obstacles! He always provides exactly what we need, exactly when we need it!

As far as my “24 hour prayer turnaround” goes, she’s absolutely right! I am blessed with a direct line to God, but guess what? – so is she and so are you. I’m not saying that God always answers prayers exactly the way we want Him to, or even when we want Him to. But I know for certain that the moment we pray to Him (probably even before that), He starts working on the BEST solution for us, and only He knows what that is. We just have to have faith that He’s going to deliver the absolute greatest outcome with His own perfect timing. Often, this is a tough lesson in patience, but always worth the wait! I just got lucky with this particular prayer in that it happened to line up with His perfect will!

I recently asked Tricia if she felt like she had that one BIG testimony now. Her answer as I expected was “no”, but only because she came to realize that it isn’t really about that one BIG event. She feels like her particular testimony is more about her “time in the wilderness” as she calls it (referencing Matthew 4:1, KJV/ NLT), where she learned to be faithful, obedient, patient, and trusting of God. Her testimony is more about the journey, than a single event. It was a time in her life, that strange as it may seem, she will cherish forever as one of the best! The job was just the cherry on top! Amen for that!