Prayer & Fasting 2022 // Day 6

Nancy Spannbauer

January 22, 2022

"Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you."

Matthew 7:7

With a child's knowledge of the New Testament, I believed that whatever I asked for I would receive.  As the years passed, with their many disappointments, there was one thing that I never let go of, and that was the request that I would, one day, be able to live in New York City. As the years went by I had a reasonably good life, but felt farther and farther from God.

As with most miracles, something unexpected happened. When I was in my late 40s my mother needed to go to NYC  for surgery.  I drove her down and spent a week while she was recovering, just walking around and seeing her as often as possible. That week I found a job in the NY Times which was just right for me. When I went back to Vermont, which was where I was living at that time, I sent a resume, came down for an interview and was hired.

Then my sister Susan died. She had been closer to me than anyone else and I became angry at God, accusing Him of being selfish by taking her from me.This anger consumed me for an entire year.  When I hit bottom I said to a friend of mine, "I can't go on like this", she said as she pointed to the building across the street, "There is my church.  Come with me Sunday:". That became the start of my digging my way out of the hole I had gotten into and being the impetus for my trip back to really living. Living as a Christian, who is bursting with love for God, who has made my last 25 or so years the best anyone could hope for. He allowed me to go on mission trips and pray with people in other countries, and work with countless numbers of people who have continually enriched my life.

Ask and it will be given to you. It might just take some time.