I remember I started yelling. "Guys? Can you hear me? Guys!" I was screaming, asking if they could hear me, asking if they were still there. I was terrified. I don't know how long it went on for but it felt like forever until I heard my uncle's voice again, assuring me they were there and that I was okay.
That's what calmed me down again. Knowing I wasn't alone. That I hadn't been abandoned. That even though I was scared I would be okay because someone I knew and trusted was there to help make sure I got out of that scary situation.
After I got back out of the crawl space I asked my aunt and uncle what had happened. Why had they stopped talking all of the sudden? Where had they gone? Do you know what he told me? My uncle said something along the lines of, "Sweetheart, we were there the whole time. We were talking to you but you were screaming so loud you couldn't hear us."
Recently I started thinking about that in relation to prayer. So often we pray and ask God for this or that but then we don't stop to listen for His answer. We ask and ask and ask but we're so busy talking we don't listen. We're panicking about what we don't have, what He hasn't given us or why He hasn't provided that we don't stop and just listen for what He is saying. What He has given us or how He has already started to provide.
It doesn't mean we always get the answer we want. Sometimes the answer is no. Or not right now. Sometimes He says wait. Other times it's a yes but we're so distracted we don't even hear it. It makes we wonder how many answered prayers I've missed over the years. How many times do I ask for something and then forget about it, I get so distracted I don't even remember to say thank you. Now I know that there are a lot of times that God answers prayers we haven't asked. How many more of those have I missed?
Most importantly, no matter what the answer is, I don't have the reminder that I am not alone. He always listens to my prayers and He always there for me. He's always the One that I can trust who will never abandon me. The more time I take to listen the more I am reminded of those facts and everything in life is better when I keep that in mind.
There's no way to know how many times I've missed an answer to pray. There is a way to change it in the future though. It's time that I stopped talking so much and spent some time listening instead. I'll be more likely to hear the answers to prayer, I'll be more grateful when I do and I'll be reminded that I'm not alone and He hasn't abandoned me. That's a whole lot of good things that just come from me being quiet and listening.
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