My earbuds had been missing for weeks—a fact that felt both baffling and frustrating. Baffling, in that I knew they had to be somewhere in our home, but scour as I might, they refused to turn up. Frustrating, in that this would be the second pair I had lost, and I just couldn’t rationalize purchasing yet another pair.

Obviously, this was an inconvenience and not a tragedy. Okay. So I had to turn the volume up while I went for walks so I could hear podcasts and audiobooks over passing vehicles. No biggie. And yet… it just kept nagging at me. They had to be somewhere in the house. But where?

I almost felt silly the morning I sensed the Lord’s nudge.

“Have you even asked Me where they are?”

“Oh, well… I mean… no, not specifically. I haven’t prayed about it.”

Then came a deep impression as the Lord made sure He had my full attention.

“Ask Me. I’m going to lead you to exactly where they are, but I need you to mark this down. You won’t always see My answers this quickly, but you can have confidence that I hear your prayers, and I answer your prayers.”

I confess I felt hesitant. Was this really the Lord? What if I asked, and He didn’t answer? What if this was all just me? What if I walked to where He had placed in my mind, and they weren’t there? Would it just serve as evidence that I can’t really hear from Him?

I lifted up a short, sincere prayer, asking Him where they were, and had an immediate impression of where to look. As I slowly headed into my bedroom, the refrain in my still doubting mind was, “This is crazy, this is crazy. Kimberly, you are just being crazy.”

Yet there they were, in the exact spot He had shown me. And it was the exact encouragement I needed. This wasn’t about the earbuds. Not really. It was about all the hard I had been lugging around in my heart, all the prayers I had been lifting up for what felt like too long, all the doubts beginning to bubble up about whether or not it even mattered that I was praying, all the questions about if my feeble prayers were making any sort of difference.

The truth is, He has answered so many prayers over 27 years of walking with Him. I have seen the power of prayer. I have witnessed Him move in mighty, kind, personal, and compassionate ways. But these fragile human hearts, they grow weary. Fear can get loud as our hope begins to wear thin. God is good and gracious, though. Instead of being done with us, He encourages us. He meets us in our weariness with hope and truth. And so I marked it down that day, and I am praying you will mark it down, too.

I don’t know why you haven’t seen Him answering some of your most desperate prayers yet. But I know we can trust His character. I know we can trust His heart, His timing, and His ways. And I know we can trust that He’s leaning in close to listen. Don’t stop praying, my friend. Don’t hesitate to start praying. He calls us to pray. He hears when we pray. And He knows how and when to answer our prayers.

“I love the Lord because he hears my voice
   and my prayer for mercy.
Because he bends down to listen,
   I will pray as long as I have breath!” Psalm 116:1-2 (NLT)

“The Lord is near to all who call on him,
   to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18 (ESV)

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

Clinging to the Lord and calling on Him with you,
Kimberly