We Are In God's Hands

No matter how often we hear this, "We are in God's hands" or say it to ourselves or others, we need confirmation from time to time that "God has a plan" and that "prayer does work".   We might go for years praying for someone or something without any evident validation that our prayer is being heard.  We keep on asking (remembering the 20 years it took for St. Monica's prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine), but our prayer might become stale or mechanical, until whoops, out of the blue, someone we've been praying for stops by with "a story"--one that confirms that our prayer has been or is being answered. 
Powerful stuff, especially when we consider how the God who created this vast universe, or the wonder of the human body, and the billions of individuals who inhabit this planet right now, all with unique personalities and distinguishing characteristics, has a plan for each one of us, and will go to extreme means to make sure that the plan is fulfilled.  "Why me?", the person asks,or "Who'd have ever thought?"  When it does become clear that God is there to make sure his plan is activated, such as the conversion of Saul or Augustine, the person might want to retreat from it, because of fear: "it's scary." -- Yes, it IS scary that the Creator of the unviverse should be interested enough to step into someone's  life, sometimes dramatically, to wake him or her up from their complacency or sinfulness, or indifference, and challenge them to use the gifts he gave them to fulfill his plan for them. Yet, seeing what has happened, they we will  want to go forward in humble submission and accept the plan and converstion, transformation takes place, gradually, slowly, but surely. 
What a lesson for us who have been praying for them,  that indeed prayer works, and even when doubt or roteness have invaded  our prayer life. The moral:  keep praying.  God is in charge and we are in his hands.
Bro. Rene