GOD WAITED

While on vacation in Washington this summer I had a major God sighting. It started with a promise to visit Index Community Church, where my nephew-in-law is the pastor. It is the perfect little country church on the edge of town.

I can remember my Dad driving me over to Eastern Washington via Highway 2 when I was a little girl. One of the many tiny towns along that road is Index, WA. The strange part of my memory is how scared I felt driving along that road, which didn’t make sense to me since I loved traveling with my Dad. It was just this stretch of Highway 2 that made me feel like something was going to jump out and hurt me. My dad loved to take me on adventures, like the time we detoured off the road and over a two-lane bridge into the city of Index. He would say when we saw Mt. Index, “Look! There is the mountain that points to Jesus.” It was a phrase that seemed to calm me down.

Back to the present: there I was, standing outside this little white church, thinking about how I had been praying that God’s presence would fill this valley for most of my life. Then walking into the church, I realized that my niece and nephew were part of the answer to those prayers. I finally felt at peace. I sensed God showing me that they have taken up the call to be pointers to Jesus. They hold the index of important words that this community needs to hear. The people of Index Community Church are full of the presence of God and want to share that love with everyone they meet – family, friends, neighbors, and people just passing through.

Though it is estimated that only 205 people live in Index, it is a spiritually rich community with the Index Community Christian Church, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca and the Snowy Mountain Buddhist Retreat Center – all firmly established there. There is a sense of convergence, pointing to something significant going on in the spiritual realm. What a blessing it is to see my relatives stepping into ministry in this important piece of land. I’m praying that they have a big impact that is felt around the world.

Then I had another flashback, to a time I was sitting at my Grandpa’s kitchen table and he was praying for the generations to come that they might serve God with their whole hearts, that each of us would have a heart of ministry, willing to share the love of God with anyone that we come in contact with. Again, I am overwhelmed at how God answers prayers. Not only is this niece serving God as a Ministry Assistant at Northwest University and working with her husband here in Index, bu my other two nieces, are also in ministry. My middle niece is starting a ministry for single pregnant women at her church, and her husband also works at Northwest University. The oldest of my nieces is a missionary with her husband in France.

I am overwhelmed by the grace of God that has helped me to stay faithful my whole life, and that I now get to see answers to prayers that were prayed 30 – 50 years ago. Over the years, I’ve sometimes wondered if God was listening to my prayers; but clearly, He has been listening the whole time and just waiting for the perfect timing to answer them. Don’t give up hope — even your simplest childlike prayers have an impact! God hears them all and has answers waiting for the perfect time to be revealed. Stay strong and have faith, maybe someday you will have crazy God stories like this one.