God Listens - and Answers

God is.

That is actually His name: I AM. YHWH.

Did you know that God is a PERSONAL God?

You might think "Oh, He can't have time for me and my problems, then. There are too many people..."

We're not talking about the same God. YHWH is infinite in power, which means He can devote 100% of His attention to each person - and never feel overwhelmed. (Yes, I know the math doesn't add up. That's the point. Though we ascribe human elements and limitations to God, YHWH is God - not human.)

This all leads up to a story. It is one story of many in my life, but this one just happened, so here goes.

Our number one prayer - always - is for us to be in the center of God's will. It is often difficult to determine where that is, but we always pray for direction.

So we did some car shopping. We chose a 2018 Toyota Highlander - a very nice vehicle. Darling does all the hard lifting. I just needed to test drive it.

We went last Friday for me to test drive this car. Darling had some minor misgivings, but the car handled flawlessly. While it sat in the dealer lot. 

For some reason, the arms for the car lot would not open. Darling and I spent a couple hours walking around the lot and then went home. They told us later the arms were down all day.

So I didn't get to test drive the car. Was God telling us something?

Prayer from both us received no clear resolution.

We bought the car Monday. There is a seven day return policy at the dealership, but we were happy with the car.

As we pulled it into the garage I noticed some damage to the little antenna on the top. We called the dealership, and they said it was no problem. We made an appointment to fix it on Wednesday (today). 

Yesterday I was attacked by a bug while I drove the car on an errand. Was this a sign? I laughed it off, saying something about plagues in Egypt.

So I prayed about it again, and the prayer went something like this: "God, that deal with the car trapped in the lot on Friday might have been a sign from you. I'm hoping that big ol' bug wasn't a sign from you, but I guess it could have been. But I gotta say, Lord, those are some pretty subtle signs. I need something concrete if we are supposed to return this car. I mean, something clear."

This morning, as we turned the corner at the end of the street the car stopped. Dead. No lights. No nothing. I had to use the emergency manual key to lock the door.

The dealer towed it back today. I'm told it was a loose cable at the battery terminal. We've returned the car.

Don't tell me God doesn't answer prayers.