God is Faithful by Bec Bonython
Our daughter is going into high school next year and our prayer was to get her into a school that was close to Burnside Family Church, so that she could be part of the Burnside community at a local school level. We felt that Norwood Morialta was the high school which could best help us achieve this, however we were outside of the school zone. We submitted our application in May with our first preference being Norwood Morialta High. In August we found out that we were not allocated to Norwood Morialta High School, so we started praying and asking God to meet our prayer request. During the next few months, we would pray together with our daughter, and continually ask God to answer our prayers.
I asked God for a scripture to encourage me and as I was reading from Isaiah 25 and Isaiah 26 and felt that these were the verses for me. Isaiah 25:1 says “Oh Lord you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvellous things, planned long ago” andIsaiah 25:9 says “Surely this is our God. We trusted in him and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him let us rejoice and be glad in his Salvation.” The theme which came from those verses was the Trust the Lord. And I hung onto them the entire time. Whenever I felt discouraged, I would just repeat over and over again “Trust the Lord” just Trust the Lord!.” My husband had also shared this matter with a few praying friends and all the time, we were being encouraged to just trust. We made other contingency plans, but nevertheless, we only needed to trust!
We appealed the decision in early September by writing a letter to the Department of Education, hoping it would secure us a spot, but the Department just said that our daughter's name was on the waiting list and to liaise directly with the school. So I called the school and spoke with the coordinator. She told us we needed to submit a letter to the Campus Principal. As soon as I got off the phone I thought, I need to start praising God. I started repeating “Trust the Lord” and was singing God is Able. God is able, He is on your side, He is almighty God. Far above all we know, far above all we see He has done great things. Lifted up, He defeated the grave, raised to life, our God is able.
I believed that the same God that is able to raise Jesus from the dead could get my daughter into the high school we felt would benefit our family the most. All week I was singing this song. Then on Thursday we got the phone call from the school saying we had been accepted into Norwood Morialta High. I was at work at the time and was able to share with my work colleagues that my prayers had been answered.
I want to encourage you.
1. If you have received a promise from God, stay strong and stand firm on that promise. Repeat that promise and allow the promise to be your encourager. Confidently know that the Lord is always faithful to his promises.
2. Start praising God right now, even when your prayer has not yet been answered. Verbally declare aloud your praise or start singing to Him.
3. Be active in your waiting. Joseph, son of Jacob, in the Bible was an active waiter. While waiting to be freed he did his best working in Potiphar’s house and he did his best when he thrown into jail. Even though his prayers were not yet answered, he did his best. What is it we need to do while we are waiting for God to answer our prayer?
4. Tell others about your prayer needs and ask them to start praying with you. Your friends will encourage you and support you when you are feeling discouraged.
5. If you have a prayer need, I strongly encourage you to read the bible and ask God for a scripture that you can use as your God given promise throughout your circumstance.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Blessings - Bec