In my book, Refuel Your Wait: Find Hope and Overcome Fear While Adopting, I write about the point in our adoption process when I started praying specific requests instead of general prayers.
A few days ago, I was struggling with my choice to spend more time on selling my book and speaking to adoption agencies. I was questioning if this was indeed still my calling and if this was still the path that God wants me to pursue. So I sat down to pray and I wrote a specific request for confirmation.
The next two morning my prayers were answered.
Next week I have a scheduled speaking engagement with an adoption support group of an adoption agency. The very next morning after my prayers I received an email from the agency. The staff member stated that their hopeful adoptive families were specifically struggling with “the wait”. She requested encouragement for them in this area and advice on how to shift their focus. The staff member also asked if I could speak about interrupted adoptions. She knew this was part of our story and a few of their families had fear of moving forward after also going through interruptions.
Ok God, I hear you.
But, because God knows me so well and He knows that sometimes I question myself even after receiving answered prayers, He sent me another confirmation. The very next morning I was scheduled to prepare my presentation for the waiting families. When I popped my eyes open from a restful night of sleep, I looked at the clock and it read exactly 4:00am. The reason this is significant is because throughout my writing process I have always claimed the 4:00am-6:00am hours to be my most creative and productive writing hours of the day.
Ok God, I hear you.
Prayers were asked and answers were received.
I want you to take note that when I asked those prayers, I wrote them down in my journaling notebook. This is an important step that I highly recommend when asking a specific prayer. If you write your prayer down you will have your wording, your emotions and your actual requests that we sometimes forget. These details can help you confirm your answers to your prayers. I love to go back to my prayer journals and read through all the specific prayer requests and answers when I am feeling weary in my faith or seeking new answers.
What specific prayers are you asking today? Have you written them down?
I would love to hear a story of a specific prayer and answer that you received.