I love it when a prayer comes together. God will always answer prayers, and sometimes, He even answers them the way you hope for.

My latest prayer to be answered concerns a family member who recently lost her job. She is going through a difficult divorce and custody battle and losing her job would not be helpful. She has been struggling through this, especially with her finances.

I have written about prayers being answered before and I thought I should explain the way I know it is God who is answering them and not just a coincidence they were answered.

When I first began my journey back to the Lord I looked really hard at my past. I never prayed for anything, I guess I just didn’t believe. That was stupid on my part because the first time I seriously did my prayer was answered. I know I have written about this before but I’ll briefly go over it again.

It is what I always refer to as the “Door Story”. I was going through a difficult period in my life, drinking and having relationships with someone I shouldn’t have, and I had to go to a funeral. When I arrived at church I knelt down and looked at our Lord hanging from the cross and I started talking to him. I told him I was messed up and didn’t know what to do. I asked him to give me a sign showing me the way. He did.

The problem was I took the sign the wrong way, more precisely I only “got” half of it. It wasn’t until 30 years later that I realized there was a second part, ultimately the most important part. The second part was about knocking and the door will be opened, the door being reading scripture and finding answers.

When I began reading scripture I started getting the message from Jesus about how we should live our lives. I learned the need to follow His lead and live sin-free lives to live eternally in Heaven. I learned about living with the end in mind. I learned that God is in control and when we put our lives in His hands good things will happen. When I was broke and didn’t know where my next meal was coming from or how I was going to keep a roof over my head I learned I needed to put everything into God’s hands. I prayed and things began to change for the better.

Looking back, especially over the past few years, I can see the correlation between my prayers and the things that have happened. I can see how what I learned from scripture has changed my life. It doesn’t matter what Christian denomination you belong to or if you belong to any at all, if you follow the teachings of Jesus and you trust in Jesus Christ you will be able to deal with anything.

Am I saying you don’t need to belong to a church? Well as a Catholic I think everyone should be Catholic but I’ll settle for everyone just believing in God and the Christian way of life. That will be a good start.

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Mt 7:7–8.