Good Thursday Morning to you all .. well once again there's been a long dry spell between posts here on my blog .. The truth is sometimes I just don't have a lot to share .. I was urged recently by a friend to consider picking my blogging back up again and I told her the same thing I just don't have a lot to say lately .. but I took to heart her words and prayed about it . Well this was the first thing that touched my heart to share .. a simple yet personal story of what prayer can do. ~ The Feather ~ Sometimes God answers our prayers in unexpected ways. I say unexpected ways because his answers can certainly be indirect and far from the answers we were seeking or hoping to find. God's ways are special and unique to each of us. He knows how to speak to our hearts on a personal basis and to answer in ways that may be unique to each of us. Many years back our family was going through a rough patch. Our hearts were heavy and burdened and I think we began to wonder if our dear Lord had abandoned us. Because ... no answers seemed to come. The days drug on and the more I cried out to him no answers came. Many of you that have followed my blog or know me personally, know my Mom and I are very close. We have had an especially close mother/daughter bond/friendship for as many years as I can remember. We are truly the best of friends. That being said during this rough patch she and I would go for walks in the evening. We shared and discussed our emotions, fears, and uncertainties on these walks. Along the walk we came to a street that was fairly abandoned .. there was a concrete wall we sat on under a tree and this is where we stopped along the way and prayed each day asking God's help and guidance. I can't tell you how many days we walked that same road and prayed under that tree ..but I know it was a long time we stopped and sought God's help and answers for our lives. Unbeknownst to me Mom prayed a separate prayer on her own to herself one day asking crying out to God "are you still there ?" .. if you could just give me an answer to let me know you're still there .. if you could just send me a feather dear Lord I'll know you're still there and I can keep going." So one day we left on our daily walk as usual once again talking over the day, work, etc .. and just as we got to the concrete wall and the tree mom looked down and took in a deep breath and tears rolled down her cheeks .. as she bent over to pick up the feather that layed on the sidewalk just in front of her feet. She turned to me and said "Sara, he's still here he hasn't left us I'll be o.k. now." ... She then began to explain about the prayer and the feather and what it meant. We both hugged and then prayed and thanked God for the feather. No, he didn't answer the prayer to our rough patch at that moment in time it was a while on past the prayer and the feather .. but he answered in the most unexpected way a person might imagine .. he sent a feather .. to the spot we prayed to let a heart in agony know he hadn't abandoned her or me or our situation. God doesn't always pluck us from painful situations or struggles that life throws at us. As I have always said life is a journey through the seasons of life always changing. From peaceful and joyful times to pain, struggle and heart ache. All of these seasons have ways of shaping and molding our hearts if we allow them to after God's own heart. Compassion, kindness, Love, Understanding, are just a few words I can think of that God wants to imprint upon our hearts if only we will let him. It's a life of constant learning of constant changing and seeking him in all we do and messing up and starting all over again. forgetting lessons learned and learning them again.. another cycle of life if you will. So Look for the unexpected answers to prayer that God sends. Sometimes he answers indirectly and in ways that our personal to each of us. To this day when Either of us are feeling down or uncertain about life .. Feathers show up in the oddest of places without us even asking him to send them .. And whenever I happen on a feather my first thought is "God's here he's got this." If you're going through a rough patch and you're feeling the same way "is God still there ?" ... Yes he is ..sometimes he just wants us to be still and wait on him .. going about our daily routine, moving forward and seeking him until His answers come. Keep praying, Keep Seeking, don't give up .. This season shall pass. Jeremiah 29:12-13 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Sweet Blessings .. Sara