His Mysterious Ways, Once Again

I've written often about how hindsight has shown me the wondrous ways in which the Father has answered our prayers. This is yet another, and it happened this afternoon.

My middle-aged nephew has been in severe pain of late, from several issues. He has no medical coverage so he has tried to deal with it. The most recent addition is the massive toothaches he is suffering this past week or so.

Today it was really bad. When it came time for dinner, I had leftovers from yesterday. It was reasonably soft - chicken stir fry. I had cooked it and made sure everything was as tender as possible. Given the problems with multiple teeth, he accidentally set off even more pain while eating. I had been suggesting, for a few days, that we find a dentist and get the worst of those teeth pulled. He absolutely hates dentists. I refuse to force an adult to do something they do not want to do, so I suggest, rather than make it an order, that they do this or that.

However, I could not stand watching this much longer. I sent up a very strongly worded prayer to Jesus. I had been asking him to look this way, see the pain, and have compassion. All it would take, I prayed, was a glance in our direction, and the pain would ease up so he could get some rest. This afternoon, I was a bit annoyed at the lack of response.

I prayed, silently, reminding Jesus that he said if we asked, it would be given. Well, I reminded him, I asked, and he is still in severe pain. I silently wondered if anyone up there even cared.

We got through dinner, somehow. Suddenly, an hour later, my nephew got up and said that he'd had it and he needed to find a dentist, as soon as possible. I reminded him that we needed to re-open a short term loan for the funds and that it might take a day or so. We needed to also find a dentist that was reasonable in price. I remembered a neighbor who told me of one. I called him and got the name and phone number.

Tomorrow, I'll call the dentist, and the loan company, and get things going.

Bottom line - Jesus did not relieve my nephew of his pain. It increased enough, however, for my nephew to finally agree to do something about it. That was actually the best solution, in the long run.

Lord Jesus, forgive my annoyance and frustration, and even a bit of doubt, earlier today. Thank you for providing the right solution for our concerns. As always, not our will, but the Lord God's be done.