This past Easter, my husband and I celebrated the holiday with our two sons and their families at the home of one son and his wife. Driving home the following afternoon, we decided to have dinner at a restaurant that is in a major shopping area about an hour from our house.

Pulling into a parking space along the front of a restaurant, we went into the restaurant to eat. Returning to our car after our meal, my husband turned the ignition switch, but nothing—–absolutely nothing—–happened. Not even a single light appeared on the dashboard. We tried various things that we knew to try, but they all produced the same result. Indications were that our car had a very dead battery.

“Luckily,” though, we weren’t far from an auto parts store, where a battery could be purchased. But “as luck would have it,” our foreign make car requires a special battery. Additionally, while the terminals for the battery are easily accessible, the battery itself is hidden away in an obscure place. On top of that, whenever the battery is disconnected, the car’s computer system must be reset. Replacing the battery would have to be done by professionals, not by us.

“Luckily,” though, we weren’t very far from both the car dealership and the garage that my husband uses when necessary. But then, “as luck would have it,” the time was after 6 p.m., and they were both closed. Their help would not be available until morning.

Thus far, our “luck” did not appear to be holding.

Our next option was to try using jumper cables to jump-start our car, so that we could at least drive home. But there was no one in the parking lot to ask for help.

“Luckily,” though, we had an auto club membership that could supply us with the jump that we needed. But “as luck would have it,” after dialing the auto service’s number and waiting for ten minutes in their telephone queue, we were suddenly disconnected.

“Luckily” though, a restaurant employee, willing and able to take a few minutes away from his job, agreed to use his vehicle to jump-start our car. So after rolling our car out of its parking space and pushing it over to the curb, the two car batteries were hooked together.

But “as luck would have it,” the jump was only slightly successful. The dashboard lights now came on when the ignition switch was turned, but the engine still did not make a sound. The attempt had only been able to rejuvenate the battery to a small degree. After several more tries without further improvement, the employee returned to work, and we returned (figuratively speaking) to the drawing board.

Running out of options, we decided to call the auto service number one more time, despite the previous disconnect. “Luckily,” though, this time we got through the automated answering system to talk to a person. The woman on the other end of the phone listened carefully as we explained our situation. Then she suggested that we skip having her send someone to try to jump-start the vehicle, since that had already been tried, and that we go straight to having her send a wrecker to tow our vehicle to the car dealership, where it could sit overnight. We agreed, and she quickly confirmed a plan with a local towing service. But “as luck would have it,” the wrecker service wouldn’t be able to get to us for seventy minutes. We would just have to wait.

But our problem, appearing partially solved, wasn’t over yet. We still needed a way to get home. So while we waited for the wrecker, we called our son, who “luckily” lives relatively close to where we were stranded. Also “luckily,” he was home from work, available and willing to be our taxi service. Arriving a short time later, he helped transfer our personal items from our vehicle to his. Then the three of us waited for the wrecker’s arrival.

After ninety minutes had passed, the woman with the auto service called us back to check on our status. Learning that we were still waiting, she then checked on the status of the wrecker. But “as luck would have it,” the wrecker had been delayed and wouldn’t arrive for another twenty minutes or so.

“Luckily,” though, while we continued waiting, our son remembered that he had a pair of super-sized jumper cables in the particular vehicle that he “luckily” had driven that night.  He suggested that it might be worth using them to try to jump-start our car one more time while we waited. The larger diameter cables, having less resistance to current flow, might provide sufficient power to start our car’s engine, something that the standard cables had been incapable of doing. He also suggested (having “luckily” read the recommendation somewhere) that we allow the vehicles to simply sit for a few minutes, once they were connected, before attempting to start our car. The idea contradicts the traditional jump-start procedure of minimizing the time that the two batteries are connected, but we decided to give it a try.

So our son’s vehicle was turned on and the batteries were connected. While we stood talking, the cables did their job, transferring power to the battery that was in need from the battery that had ample to give. When the ignition switch in our car was turned, the engine started right up. It had received what it needed:  a super charge.

We rejoiced, of course, at the “lucky” turn of events. But beyond the happy ending, there is more to the story.

When we had first discovered that our car would not start, we had prayed, asking God to start the engine in order to get us home. While my husband continued trying to start the engine, I continued asking God to start the car. But the words that I came to pray were specific words that had come to mind during the prayer. I asked (and kept asking) for “the power transfer that we need.”

When I asked, God could have supernaturally transferred power from Himself to our car’s battery to alleviate our problem immediately. But He didn’t.

For quite some time that evening, the prayer appeared to be going completely unanswered. In fact, nothing appeared to be going right. We did everything that we knew to do, to no (apparent) avail. Our prayers didn’t appear to be any more beneficial or effective than our “luck.” The immediate result that we had hoped to receive from the prayer just did not occur. The longer that time went on that evening, the more our hope of receiving the answer that we wanted faded into the background of events. By the time that the wrecker had been called, we had essentially given up all hope of driving our car home that night.

Then, when we least expected it, the power transfer that we needed (the one for which we had prayed) came. It came in a way that we could not have anticipated. It came through our son, who “luckily” lived nearby, who “luckily” was available to give us a ride, who “luckily” had driven his vehicle that contained the heavy cables—–the cables that he “luckily” had purchased once upon a time for just such a need.

It came through a tow truck that was late, an auto service employee who skipped over the standard procedure, a good Samaritan whose efforts were insufficient and a disconnected phone call. It came through all of the “it didn’t work” ideas that had come to mind to try.

“The power transfer that we needed” came through all of the “negative” results that, on their own, had not helped… except to lead us to the next step. The answer to our prayer and need had been in delivery the entire time, from the moment that the prayer had first been made. We just couldn’t see it coming.

We had wanted and were looking for immediate relief. But the set up that we needed to walk through, in order to get to the solution that God had prepared for us specifically, was a process apart from what we were expecting. The process in which we were unknowingly immersed was itself our answer. Every step that we were led to take, though appearing fruitless, actually moved us closer to the desired result.

Sometimes in life, we have the “good luck” of experiencing our prayers being answered immediately, as we hope them to be answered, and we rejoice. But sometimes the answers are a long time in coming, arriving in ways that we could never have expected, causing us to rejoice all the more at their arrival.

The reality of both immediate and delayed answers to prayer are explained in the Book of Daniel. In chapter nine, the angel Gabriel, sent to deliver the answer to Daniel’s prayer, tells Daniel that “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.” (Daniel 9:23a)

But in the very next chapter, a different situation arises when the answer to Daniel’s prayer is delayed in getting to him. The one delivering the answer to Daniel explains the delay. “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come to respond to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the prince of Persia. Now I have come…” (Daniel 12b-13a)

The delay was not God-desired, but a result of circumstances that had to be overcome. Our son, unbeknownst to us, had been equipped (prepared ahead of time by God) with the provision that we needed to solve our problem. But unaware of that fact, we had no reason to call him for help… until we needed a ride. That was the point to which God had been delivering us all along: the connection point between our problem and our solution.

Man’s knowledge is limited, but God’s is not. God works outside of time and space, going ahead of us to prepare our deliverance in advance of the adversity that is coming our way. He knows where we will be and what we will need every moment of our lives. Nothing takes God by surprise. If we have a problem, God has a solution. The solution, though, doesn’t always look the way that we envision it.

When what we see doesn’t match up with what we expect, it is due to our limited perspective, not God’s indifference. While God is busily maneuvering us through our limitations, we may not be able to see our answer coming any more than Daniel could see his.

Actually, there is quite a bit that we can’t see, such as why some answers (as we define them) to prayer never seem to come. We want to know why a loving God doesn’t simply “poof” us out of our problems, as a fairy godmother would do. But to limit God to being a fairy godmother would limit the eternal unseen Goodness that God provides behind the scenes, limiting His actions to our vision.

God’s ways are far greater than our ways, incorporating both the needs and provisions of many into the situations of each one. In doing so, God strengthens our connections to one another, as well as to God. If we focus only on the details (especially the ones that aren’t going the way that we want them to go), we can miss the big picture. We can allow the obvious to keep us from seeing the unexpected.

Sometimes (many times) the answer to our prayers (the “boost” of assistance that we need from God) is bigger (much bigger) than we realize. Sometimes we need more than that for which we even know to ask. Sometimes we need to persevere through circumstances that don’t appear to be changing, except maybe to worsen. Sometimes we need to lay aside our limited understanding and ask God for a glimpse of His vision. And sometimes we need to step purposefully around our own disappointment to trust in God’s vision for us.

God’s provision to our every need is always present, initiating the very prayer that jump-starts our faith to action and sets the delivery process in motion. With every step of faith that we take, we step further into God’s provision for us, empowered through our God-provided connection to Him. Empowering the words that we pray, God strengthens our faith in His faithfulness, delivering us into greater trust of God. Prayer is “the power transfer that we all need” in every circumstance in life.

When all was said and done that night in the restaurant parking lot, it was the bigger cables that saved the day, while we stood by, relaxing–—doing nothing but allowing the cables to do their job. It was the connection that mattered.

And in the end, our connection to The Source of all power is all that will matter.

To stay connected, pray; and pray to stay connected.  It works both ways.

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“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  (James 5:16)

Some years ago, while living in Spain, my husband and I decided to take a Mediterranean cruise. Training to Venice, we boarded a cruise ship that carried us to numerous ports of call as far east as Turkey, before heading west. The journey, though fun and exciting, contained one adventure that we would have preferred not to have experienced.

Following more than a week of beautiful weather and fairly balmy seas, we awoke early on the next-to-last morning of the cruise to the ship’s jostling. Having departed Monaco/Monte Carlo the previous evening, we were scheduled for a day at sea before docking in Barcelona at the journey’s end.

Sometime during the day, the cruise itinerary promised a sail-by of the Spanish islands of Mallorca. Since my husband and I had previously visited Mallorca, the sail-by held little interest for us. Later we would learn that many others on-board felt the same way. Nonetheless, the event was built up to be something special, something to which we could all look forward to seeing. Mostly, though, we were simply looking forward to a relaxing day at sea before returning home. 

But the blue, cloudless skies to which we awoke that morning belied the condition of the sea upon which we were sailing. Throughout the morning, the ship’s jostling continued to increase, turning into a serious rolling motion.

In sailing to the west, the ship had encountered a hefty and steady wind that was blowing down from the north across the European continent. As the wind blew across the sea’s surface, it transferred some of its energy to the water molecules, setting them in motion. Similar to the manner in which one pushes a child on a swing, the regularity of the wind, continuously blowing across the waves that it generated, caused the waves to grow larger in the wind’s relentlessness.

As the day progressed, the wind and the waves became more than a nuisance. They became a threat.

Because the wind was south-blowing, the waves were parallel to the ship’s westward movement, striking the ship broadside. Each time that a wave struck the starboard (right) side of the ship, the ship was lifted by the swell, causing it to list to the left. Making matters worse, the listing was magnified by the wind pushing against the ship’s starboard side.

Then on the downward side of each wave, the ship would begin to lean back to the right, negating the wind blowing against the ship, to provide a moment of uprightness before the process would begin again. With each new wave, the ship and all on-board were lifted up, rolled left, dropped back down and then returned to an upright position. With no end in sight on the horizon, the waves kept coming, increasing in size and amplifying the ship’s movement, as the wind continued fueling the waves.

Inside the ship, the sight was not pretty. People were rolling out of bunks. Tables and chairs that were not anchored down were sliding across the decks. People, unable to walk, were holding on to whatever was available. Not wanting to lose anyone overboard, the captain ordered everyone to remain inside and then suggested that everyone remain in their cabins.

But by early afternoon, those on board felt not much safer inside than out. No one (NO ONE) wants to go down with a ship, unable to escape a personal Poseidon Adventure, a “high life” turned death trap.

By this time, the ship was rolling so far to the left that people were becoming terrified, even screaming. Crew members, having worked at sea for as many as twenty years, were confessing with panicked looks on their faces that they had never before experienced anything like this event.

All the while, the Captain was making occasional announcements over the intercom, attempting to relieve the fear that had become an unwelcome passenger on-board. In an attempt to maintain the integrity of the intended course (so I suppose to be his reasoning), the captain tried to encourage us with his stated hopefulness that the seas would soon calm down and that we would still complete the sail-by of Mallorca. In response, people began yelling back at the intercom, “Forget the sail-by! Get us out of here!”

Yet the Captain seemed determined to remain on course, refusing to be swayed from the trip’s scheduled route, even though the wind and waves threatened to, if not end the journey altogether, at least make it miserable.

Miserable and scared we were. Holding on to something near an exterior door in a lobby area, I remember being grateful that our sons were not with us. If my husband and I went down with the ship, at least they would live. The event was truly that harrowing, literally descending upon us out of a clear blue sky.

Finally, though, when it seemed that neither the ship nor the people on-board could withstand much more of the violence, the Captain announced his concession. Foregoing the sail-by, he commanded the ship to be turned into the wind.

As soon as the ship turned, instantaneous relief and smooth sailing were ours! It was as if we had been transported through a barrier separating two distinct worlds:  one of violence and chaos and the other one of peace and order. By facing the wind, the ship was able to cut through the wind and waves, taking the impact out of their punch and ending their threat to the safety of everyone on-board.

The ship erupted in celebration of the action that had returned the ship to a position of stability, evaporating the fear that had permeated the atmosphere. While the crew straightened out the furniture and other items that had been tossed about, the passengers returned to the decks and their regular activities with gratitude and great relief. Belief and expectation that the journey could and would be safely completed replaced the fear that had finally departed.

All that had been required to get the ship out from under the duress of the threat that day was a decision to use the power that was at the ship’s disposal: to issue a command to turn the ship to face the wind and waves head-on. Doing so nullified the threat of the wind and waves in that time and place, allowing everyone on-board to relax in the freedom that safety provides.

Recorded in Luke 8 is an account of an incident with wind and waves upon the Sea of Galilee that is similar in nature to the event that we experienced aboard the cruise ship. While Jesus slept peacefully in the bow of a much smaller boat, a squall descended upon the lake, causing the disciples who were with Jesus to fear for their lives. The Greek word that is used to describe this storm is one that implies intensity and ferocity of wind, such as a whirlwind or hurricane, but with great and thunderous storm clouds. This storm was violent, producing dangerous waves that threatened to topple the boat at any moment.

As Jesus slept, the disciples watched the storm’s intensity increase. The wind’s fierceness brewed discord not only in the water, but in the boat as well, in the hearts and minds of the disciples. The wind, that itself could not be seen, was the cause of the peril confronting the men, taking over control of both their boat and their thoughts.

The wind was the disciples’ foe, just as it had been ours aboard the cruise ship. And just as deliverance from the threat had come to us by facing the wind, so too would the disciples’ deliverance come to them in a similar manner. Empowered by the captain’s order, our ship had turned to position us rightly against the wind, and the disciples would need a power capable of changing their course, too. The power that they needed would come from Jesus, from His command.

Assured by His position of righteousness with His Father, Jesus could not be toppled by any ill wind blowing against Him. Fear could not befall Him, for death could not threaten Him. Death at sea could not have held Jesus any more than His later death upon the Cross was capable of doing. Jesus’ right standing with God, forever intertwined with His Father’s love and promises, empowered Him to stand firm against every threat, unencumbered by the weakness that doubt and fear produce.

His righteousness (right standing with God) provided Jesus with authority (the right) from His Father to speak in opposition to everything that defied His Father’s will for both Him and His Father’s world. Jesus’ spoken words against the wind and all that wrongly bore down upon the world were powerful because they were aligned with God’s will that is revealed in God’s Word. Jesus could not be intimidated by anything or anyone because He knew and accepted His position of authority as the righteous Son of God. Nothing could sway Him from the truth of either His Father’s identity or His own.

When Jesus stood up in the boat, faced the threat and voiced His Father’s will, the threat died out. It had no choice. It lost its punch.

The day would come, following Jesus’ resurrection, when the disciples would accept and use the authority that would be theirs in Christ Jesus, empowered by the assurance of His righteousness that gave them His eternal life. Speaking God’s will with the same right by which Jesus had spoken it—–as sons of God in Christ Jesus, their words were backed by the same power of God (Holy Spirit) that empowered Jesus’ words.

Today’s disciples carry the same authority backed by the same power that the early disciples had, providing us with the same opportunity to speak God’s will according to His Word. We are enabled to confront the things that generate chaos in this world head-on without fear, becoming instruments of restoration through the implementation of God’s Word, as it is spoken by us.

If we, as disciples of Jesus Christ and sons (despite our gender) of the living God, should ever doubt the veracity of our God-given ability to speak God’s Word with authority, an ill blowing wind is coming from somewhere to cause some degree of chaos in our thinking. God is not the one keeping us from using our God-given right to restore order where it is needed. To the contrary, God is the One who has empowered us with Himself to do so.

All that is needed to defeat the opposition of doubt and fear in our minds and hearts is to change direction by speaking the words that align us with God. All opposition to God is defeated by the power of Truth that His Word contains.

And we are just the men and women to deliver the full Gospel Truth in the midst of every circumstance, wherever we go.

With every Word of God that we speak, lives—–ours and others–—change course.

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“The words I [Jesus] say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”  (John 14:10b)