Testimony of Answered Prayer
Amy J. Deutl
First, be careful when you sincerely ask for God’s will in your life. It is serious business and not to be taken lightly. God will answer and most times in a way that isn’t necessarily comfortable or easy. But, it will be God’s will and that will be perfect! I was reminded of this particular time in my life when reading Genesis 24 for the umpteenth time. I would title this chapter as “Finding a Wife for Isaac”. Father Abraham, advanced in years, sends his most trusted servant to find a wife for his one and only son, Isaac, who will carry forth the covenant given by God to Abraham for his descendants to be as numerous as the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens. Their descendants will be blessed and will be a blessing to the nations. So, his servant heads off to the land of the Chaldeans where Abraham’s brother Nahor has given birth to numerous children. This is where the servant was instructed by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac. When the servant arrives, he shoots up a quick prayer to God that he would find Isaac’s bride and would know it was her if she would offer to give water to Isaac from the well, and not only that, but would also offer to water his ten camels. And, voila! Instantly, this beautiful unmarried woman approaches the servant at the well, offers him water from the well, and also offers to water his ten camels! The servant is amazed how quickly and perfectly his prayer is answered. He explains his testimony to her family. “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder…”. The servant’s testimony of his answered prayer was powerful. Rebekah’s family was moved by his testimony and agreed to give her in marriage to Isaac. God’s will be done! Here’s my testimony of having my prayer answered back in 1997, when I asked the Lord to please show me His will in my life. I was at a crossroads in my job as a bookkeeper/accountant for a small company in Vermont. My desire to serve God in a ministry in some way became stronger than ever and I wasn’t sure what that would look like. I was willing to follow Him in whatever way He would lead, but I didn’t know where to begin, except to offer it up as a prayer and wait.
Financially, it didn’t make sense, but at the same time, I gave up one day of my work week as a step in faith to let God know I was serious about my prayer. My employer hesitantly agreed to let me work four days a week and adjusted my salary accordingly. I searched for financial positions within several ministries, thinking that’s where God could use my talents and continued to pray for His will. At that time, I was a member of the United Methodist Church in Moretown, Vermont and my pastor was Rev. Jan Rathbun. One Sunday in the fall, I noticed a bulletin insert that was advertising for an Executive Director of a pregnancy center in a nearby town. I thought that was interesting and coincidental that I was looking for a position in a ministry and here was one right in front of me...at church! I could have just taken that as an answered prayer, right? Just like Abraham’s servant!
Being a logical person though, I read the details of the qualifications needed for this position at the pregnancy center and I literally had none of those. They were looking for someone with nursing and helping skills and someone with a bachelor’s degree. I had accounting skills and three college credits from twenty years ago, so I wrote it off as a possibility, but had hope that God was working in the right direction. At the end of the church service that day, my pastor and friend, Jan, brought up the subject of the bulletin insert. She said something like, “Amy, did you see the insert with the job opportunity? It might be the answer to your prayer.” How sweet of Jan to encourage me and think that it was something I was even marginally qualified for. I had, of course, previously shared with her my prayer about finding God’s will in my life regarding a new job. There is power in having others in prayer with you. I just didn’t realize just how powerful. I politely replied with a “maybe” and explained how the qualifications required and my qualifications didn’t quite line up. I politely placed the bulletin insert in my purse and continued my search.
Weeks passed by and during that time, my morning devotions and scripture reading all began to speak directly to me about God’s will, His plans and timing, how His thoughts are higher than ours and His ways are not the same as our ways. I was listening. But, I was not answering the call to the opportunity that was becoming more wrinkled and wadded up in the bottom of my purse. That little bulletin insert would pop out of my purse at the strangest times and I would just push it back down into the bottom of that messy pit. I did a little bit of research on just what this pregnancy center was all about. You see, I was a believer, but I was raised in a family and at a time when the controversial, legal debate about pro-choice and pro-life was born. I was a child of the sixties and stood up for women’s rights. Abortion had become legal when I was in high school with the decision of Roe vs. Wade. Even though I knew that God stood for life, I never would have lined up with protesters that stood outside of abortion clinics with signs and pictures that only made women feel more guilty about their situation. I was afraid this pregnancy center might be linked with work like those protesters and I did not want to be associated with them. My research concluded that these pro-life pregnancy centers were compassionate, loving, helpful ministries that offered real choices to women facing a possible pregnancy – what a relief! My heart began to soften, but still, I was not qualified.
Then, one day while driving with my daughter to an ice hockey game in New Hampshire, just going about the normal circumstances of life – God gave me a sign! We had stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts and I waited in the car for some reason. While sitting there, thinking, praying, I looked across the road and there was a rather large sign on the building that read “Dayspring Pregnancy Center”. Hmmmm….I wondered what was behind those doors. Of course, I did a little more research and discovered that Dayspring was exactly the same kind of ministry that was located in our area and offered similar services. I was beginning to see what an amazing ministry this pregnancy center idea was. Well, after all, now God had given me a sign – and I mean an actual sign!
When I got home that day, I looked in the bottom of my purse and pulled out the ragged piece of paper that was the bulletin insert advertising for an Executive Director. I decided if I was going to follow God’s will then it involved answering this ad, finally. When I made the call, I knew the position had most likely been filled. It had been at least six weeks since it showed up in our church bulletin. I felt safe making the phone call. The woman on the other end of the phone answered and I told her why I was calling. I explained that it was six weeks ago that I saw the bulletin insert and realized that the position had probably already been filled, but I wanted to be sure they were all set. She replied that they had not yet found an acceptable candidate. The Board of Directors had just met last week and decided to re-open the search for an Executive Director. Then, she hit me with this. “I told the Board that I was sure God was speaking to someone, but that they just weren’t listening.” I replied with a weak, “Well, I guess that could be me.” She agreed and said it might be a good idea to come in for an interview. We set a date.
At the interview, I felt completely unprepared and of course, unqualified. I had a little conversation with the Lord beforehand and told Him to please not let them ask me any scriptural questions, because He knew I had just recently started studying the Bible. All was well until the last of seven interviewers. He asked me, “Amy, if you were sitting with a young women who was facing an unplanned pregnancy and she was leaning towards having an abortion, where in scripture would you lead her to help her make a decision for life.” Tears are welling up in my eyes even now as I write this memory from almost thirty years ago. I quickly shot up a little prayer to Him again. I had told Him not to put me in this situation, remember? But, then a scripture came to me – only because it was the scripture my weekly Bible study group had been studying two days prior. After I explained to the board that I wasn’t a Bible scholar, but given a Bible, I could probably find something that would suffice in such a situation - it came to me! I said that “maybe Psalm 139:13-16 would be appropriate.” I paraphrased that God knitted us together in our mother’s womb, in the secret place. And that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That He sees our formless substance and all our days are known to Him before even one of them comes to be. What a relief! I was thinking, well, at least it had the word “womb” in it!
Little did I know that this exact scripture is one that pregnancy center ministries are built on. After the interview, I was “all in”. I couldn’t wait to hear the decision from the Board of Directors. I knew I wasn’t qualified, but I also had learned that God qualifies the called. Thus began my eleven wonderful years as a pregnancy center director! I had found His will in my life. Valuable lessons were learned during these years. I was pushed beyond my limits in many wonderful ways and learned to completely trust in God through all of it. I learned mostly about the power of prayer and that we are just mere instruments He uses in accomplishing His will – if we will allow Him to use us.
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