You never know when a simple request can turn into an answered prayer and opportunity to share Jesus! Right before a big drop in temperature and the expected arrival of ice and snow, I decided to hike my favorite trail. As I was coming toward the end, I noticed a man in a field to the west of the trail with a walking stick. He was poking around in the leaves and the grass. The Holy Spirit laid it on my heart to see if he needed help. I walked over and asked if he was okay. He told me he had just lost a glove a few minutes before. He told me his son had given him the gloves. I sensed they were important to him so I asked if I could help him look. He said, “No that’s okay, they have to be right around here somewhere because I just walked directly from the west parking lot and had not even gotten on the trail yet when I lost them.”
So I wished him well and walked back to the trail. As I walked away, I immediately regretted that I didn’t have one of my testimony tracts to give him. I was immediately led by the Spirit to pray, “Lord help me find his glove so I have an opportunity to get a tract out of my car and give it to him.” The ridiculousness of this prayer—that is, that I was walking east and then getting off the trail to the north and he had come from the west—never occurred to me. As I walked the 200 yards or so back up the trail, I had an inexplicable sense of great expectation. I think my spirit and soul knew I was about to see a miracle. My brain and all of its “common sense” just needed to catch up. As I walked up the trail towards the north parking lot, I saw it—the missing glove.
My heart leaped with joy!
I grabbed the glove and retrieved a tract out of my old Toyota. I trotted as fast as my 35 pound weight vest would allow me to move. As I approached him waving the glove, I said, “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I prayed God would allow me to find your glove, and He did! It was by my car.” I think he was as surprised as I was, and asked with puzzlement, “You found it by the north parking lot? I didn’t go anywhere near there.” I said, “Well maybe a hiker came along and found it and put it up there.” He said, “No, no one has been this way and furthermore, I didn’t even get on the trail.” He paused, and said kind of softly, “You know, I also prayed I would find that glove.” I smiled and said, “Well, I don’t know why we’re both so surprised that God could work a miracle this way. He works far greater miracles every minute of each day!” We both laughed.
Then I handed him my tract, and said, “I want to give you my story about how I came to know Jesus. There is a reason God answered our prayer and brought me back to you. Maybe my story will encourage you and perhaps it’s the entire reason for the miracle of your recovered glove.” He put it in his pocket and said he would read it. We chatted a bit longer and then parted ways.
I rejoiced as I walked back to the parking lot because I knew I’d seen a miraculous answered prayer.
Now you may be thinking, “What is the big deal? I mean it’s not like you saw any spiritual result.” Ah, I get it. We all tend to minimize the importance of prayer and our testimony because our enemies want us to think it’s too insignificant to matter. But my friend, we must change our thinking. It only took one seed to grow that mighty oak outside my window. The Word is the seed, the Word is Jesus, the living water and the bread of life. It is never wasted—whether it be planted in a lost person or a saved person who needs encouragement.
As I was walking back to the parking lot, all I could think about was the New Year’s Resolution God had given me: Pray without ceasing. This resolution includes listening to His Spirit. The commitment to start the day with prayer and stay in touch with God’s Spirit throughout the day has been empowering. That day, as I’d been hiking and listening to a sermon, the Spirit directed me to turn it off and tune into His voice. I was listening when He said, “Go help that man.” I know a seed was planted. I’m still praying for him. I have no idea if he is born again. Perhaps he is a Christian who just needs encouragement. I don’t need to know. I just need to know that I did what God said and He is faithful to do the rest.
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask ANYTHING according to His WILL, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15
I asked God to help me find that glove because I wanted the opportunity to share the Gospel with him. Even though it seemed physically impossible, it was no big deal for God to position that glove where I could find it. His will was worked in His way and I got to plant the seed of His Word!
