I’ve been facing a lot of spiritual warfare over the past week. For example, I was up until 2 a.m. last night being hammered with questions about my faith by a hurt, angry acquaintance who wanted to pick a fight with a Christian. I was the lucky one chosen to be attacked with questions no one can answer this side of heaven – the kind of questions that have to be surrendered, taken purely on faith in God’s character.
I was shaken by the conversation – his vehement, hateful accusations and absolute lack of faith. I was disturbed by his diametrically opposed determination to have everything be proven or, oscillating to the other extreme, his insistence that there is relative truth based on experiential knowledge.
Fortunately, I have a lot of loving, supportive, solid Christian friends who prayed with me and for me this morning, driving away the spiritual darkness I felt overtaking me. We truly were created for fellowship and community.
And then tonight was my weekly bible study with sweet, dear friends who fill me with love, joy and peace; light and life. Around 11 p.m. as I pulled into my apartment’s parking garage after bible study, I silently groaned to myself about the fact that I would surely have to park on the rooftop of our monstrosity of a parking garage. I offered up a silent prayer, “Please, God, let there be a place for me.”
Just then, I rounded the curve to the second floor – the level my apartment is on – and saw an Expedition pulling out. What?! No one is ever leaving their spot at this hour! But there it was, a spot prepared in advance, just for me. God is in the little things, and He hears even the most simplistic and mundane of prayers. God is the gentle whisper.
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. -1 Kings 19:11-12
Authentically Aurora
Authentically Aurora 
God is good!
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Ah, how sweet! I love it when God answers our little prayers. Sorry about the angry friend, that is something I have to deal with a lot. The thing is, sometimes our willingness to deal with it is an act of love, a sign of Christ’s love in action. There is your “proof.” Trust me, if God wasn’t real, I’d have just punched a few people in the nose and gone to get ice cream. 😉
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An excellent point! If I didn’t have the indwelling Holy Spirit, I’m pretty sure I would have punched a lot more people in the nose (and eaten a lot more ice cream)! 😉
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Aurora, you have the kindness to listen to a hurting friend and try to help that friend cope with the world as it is… that is one of the many beautiful things about you. If the Lord saw fit to give you a special parking spot, it’s just a sign of his love and his thoughtfulness…that is one of the many beautiful things about him. In his heart, there is always a place for us. J.
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Thanks, J. The kindness you see glimpses of (from time to time) is hard won!
My prayer all throughout college was for God to increase my love for other people because I saw (and hated) my quickness to anger, impatience and arrogance. Fortunately/Unfortunately (ha), He answered by allowing me to go through the Refiner’s Fire. Yay sanctification! 😉
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You mean that praying for a loving and kind nature is like praying for patience? That God answers the prayer, not with a free virtue poured from the sky into our hearts, but with opportunities to practice that virtue we seek to possess? Some believers never figure out how that works… J.
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Thankfully you have such strong faith. It stinks when you have a friend or other acquaintance that is suffering a crisis of faith. I’m just glad they went to you, because I know you are the right person to help them (along with God).
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