Have you ever prayed this prayer and received THIS response?

Last night I heard one of the most God-centered, beautiful, biblical, deep, NOT “felt-needs / name it and claim it / I love God because He blesses me” testimonies. It was incredible. It was amazing. I wept and wept and was moved to worship God and was encouraged in my faith and … well … it was just lovely.

(Lovely is not quite the word, but I’m not really coming up with the right one. It was good–good in all its goodness, its God-ness. It was right. It was a foretaste of Heaven. It brought us all to the Cross and turned our eyes off of ourselves and the speaker and entranced us with the beauty of the Lord and the happiness–blessedness–of being known by Him and loved by Him and adopted by Him.)

This testimony was given at a new “Supper Club” ministry (led by an amazing woman!) that our church has developed as a lovely combination of fun & fellowship & evangelism in our community. (Thank you, Pam! And your “think pink” team too!)

The speaker was a new and dear friend of mine who recently went through aggressive breast cancer and the resulting treatments. Here is the entire text of her testimony — but even if you don’t have time to read it all, I wanted to ask if any of you have ever prayed THIS prayer and received THIS response:

Dear God, I want to know You. Please cause me to know You. Please help me to know You.

(For me, I remember praying this prayer when I felt like I knew a lot ABOUT God, but I didn’t really feel like I KNEW GOD. I felt like it was head knowledge, not true heart change and appropriate, adoring love.)

The speaker had us all laughing as she retold how, back in 2004 her elder asked her how she was doing and how he could be praying for her. And she said, “Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I wish I really KNEW GOD, so maybe, well, would you pray that for me?” And this elder said, “Of course!” And he prayed right then for her.

But then, knowing this elder as we all know him, she totally assumed that he went on and prayed this for her for days. Weeks. Probably even months. As she just went back to her busy life and pretty much forgot about it because the pressing URGENCIES of life pushed out this “serious call to a devout and holy life.”

(Oh! How I could relate!)

And then she was diagnosed with cancer. And somehow the busy-ness of life came to a screaching halt as what was IMPORTANT took center stage.

And through her suffering she came to know God better

As she spoke, I remembered how I had received a similar response once too–albeit not with cancer, but instead with pain at the hands of Christian friends and leaders that I trusted and respected.

Suffering that almost led me to death. And instead led me to Life.

Can any of you relate?
Have you ever prayed this prayer, received this response, and then (at times) questioned, “WHY did I ever pray for THAT?!? What was I thinking?!?”

But over time
when the emotional bleeding and daily weeping and knife-through-the-chest-pain-I-don’t-think-I’m-going-to-make-it despair begins to subside
and we remember–REMEMBER!–the truths we already know
and we remember God (because He graciously gives us believing hearts!)

Well, don’t we know that ultimately it is a good prayer to pray?
For God is a good God
the One, True God.

And there are no “random molecules”
(OR cancer cells)
(OR even fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in need of further sanctification)

God IS sovereign.
And God is good.
Blessed be His name!