Breakdowns and Silver Linings

Sometimes we have breakdowns. I had one yesterday. Topics: the car (and the lack thereof), possibly having to pay for bar review after thinking I would get it free, finishing my bar app and the $900 that goes with it, no job, possibly not being able to get a job for a WHILE, getting married this year, having no money with tens of thousands of student loans, finals, moving out, etc. Everywhere I looked I saw dollar signs, and the future was overwhelming me. Plus, it was my fiance's birthday and I failed miserably to celebrate it appropriately. Not a good morning.


BC called, and we prayed. Prayer changes everything! 


My dad called me and told me he totaled the car. Its gone. I feel like its that older relative your parents won't let you see before they die. I haven't seen my car since the wreck. It will be far away in some junkyard when I go to FL this weekend. Silver Lining: We were offered an exorbitant amount for my car, and it allowed us to be able to easily purchase another one! What an answered prayer! 

And I realized today: I am so blessed! Two verses come to mind:

Philippians 4:6--Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Love this verse. It is the hardest thing to do, to offer up your concerns and thanksgiving in prayer, instead of trying to remedy it on your own. But this is how things get done...asking the One in control of everything.

James 5:16b--The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm "righteous" in the sense that we know it. But I did a little research and there's some interesting stuff to report. The Greek word for "prayer" in this sense is ἐνεργουμένη and means an energetic prayer--earnest, sincere, hearty, persevering. As for righteous, according to Scofield, believers are the righteous; when we become Christians, we become righteous in His sight. The Greek for powerful and effective (or sometimes is "availeth much") is ἰσχύει. Strong, efficient, prevailing. A strength that overcomes the resistance and secures the object. We cannot control what the Lord does, but we can ask. And when we ask, He answers.

Today I have had much more peace about the future! I was born into a family that is able to support me when I cannot support myself. I'm not alone...I have a God who loves me and has everything planned out, parents who stay by my side no matter what, and an amazing fiance who loves me unconditionally. I don't know what will happen in the upcoming days, weeks, months, years, but He does. And that is pretty reassuring.