Answered Prayers Before You Even Ask

Isaiah 65:24 "It will come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear."

If I had to answer the question what I miss the most after moving overseas my answer would be fellowship.  I am certainly not out of fellowship, but it is different than what I am used to and it takes time to form new frienships after a big move to a new place.  Then throw culture and language into the mix and it just lengthens the timeframe.

But today I attended the information meeting for a new Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class starting up in my area.  At the meeting they shared how a group of ladies has been praying for two years for a BSF class to start in this area.  That means that they were praying for this exact class back in 2013.  My family was still in the States at that time raising support to move here.  That was before I ever uttered any sort of prayer for fellowship and friendships.  And yet God was already working to answer one of my future prayer requests.  He knew the struggles and desires I would have after moving to Manila with my family and He was already in the works to graciously answer.

For those of you who might not know, BSF is an indepth inductive bible study.  It meets weekly and each year it goes through a new book of the Bible in depth, teaching its members how to study the Bible verse by verse.  It is an organization that desires to equip believers in the Word so that they can go back and serve more effectively in their own churches.  There is a lecture time with the whole group, as well as small group time with discussion questions over the passage that was studied that week.

This new BSF class is in the same subdivision as my school.  That means my boys school and the church that hosts the BSF are in the same neighbor development.  This is a huge blessing because Manila boys traffic can hinder a lot of activities simply because you are unable to get to them.  But not only is it in the same subdivistion, but it is at the exact same time that my boys are in school!  Which means I can drop my boys off at school and then just turn a few corners and go to BSF as I wait to pick up my boys later.

Additionally the majority of the ladies in leadership of this BSF are members at the same church as us.  So not only will I get the blessing of studying the Word of God in a format that I am familiar with from my home church, but also at the same time I will be building and deeping relationships with ladies that I am now serving alongside of our church body here in Manila.

As I was thinking of the timing of all of this...thinking of the desires and longings of my heart for fellowship with believers here....thinking of my prayer request and God's answers for "friends"...I was amazed and thought of the verse above from Isaiah 65:24.  Before I even asked God for fellowship, God was already at work answering my prayer and graciously orchastrating an answer.  My God is a god who hears.  My God is a god who pursues His children with mercy.