Steadfast Heart

"My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music."  -Psalm 57:7

In today's Our Daily Bread Tim Gustafson write's about a family that was facing financial difficulties.  The father prayed with his family then asked them to expect God's answer.  Soon their broken down car was repaired by a friend, unexpected checks arrived, and food showed up at their door.

In 1982, when this photo was taken, we'd been in our house a year and were struggling with making the payments.  We'd had to pay a far higher mortgage interest rate than we'd bargained for when we applied for the loan.  By the time the seller was ready to go to closing our interest rate was 15½%!  But this all led to a new understanding of prayer for me.  Until then I'd thought of prayer as one-sided--me talking to God.  I never expected a personal response.  I remember the day that I walked down to that mailbox (in the photo) and found a mailing from our life insurance company that told us we could borrow on our policy.  We had not thought of this as a solution to our financial woes.  The loan allowed us to cover our immediate expenses and we were eventually able to pay it back when our financial situation improved.  From then on I knew that God heard my prayers and would answer them as He saw fit.  Keeping one's heart steadfast on God, no matter the circumstances, displays a faith that God can work with.

I am grateful that I can call upon God in my time of need.