“God rarely meets our expectations when we pray, He exceeds them.” – Jodie Berndt Praying Scriptures for Your Children

I can think of several examples in the last month where this proved to be true.

About one week after our arrival in Cape Town, I got a horrible migraine. I usually get them monthly and it seems to be triggered by exhaustion or stress (both of which understandably accompany an international move and jet lag right?). This was quite a severe one though and after 2 days of pain, nausea, vomiting, and not being able to keep anything down, I started to feel dehydrated and think I might need some IV fluids because of how weak and dizzy I felt with no sign of improvement. The crazy thing is, it wasn’t until this point that I decided to call on some praying friends to plead for healing. So, why should I be surprised when within two hours I was able to fall asleep, and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling completely well! I wasn’t just “well,” but I actually felt strong. Usually after bad migraines I still need a day or so to recover from being so weak but not this time. It was truly miraculous.

A couple of days later, we were playing at a nearby park with one of those really tall metal slides that I remember playing on as a child, but I’m pretty sure they are no longer used because they are metal traps of death. Seriously, they are too high and your skin rips off on the way down when it’s hot, am I right? Well, Caden was climbing UP the “metal trap of death” when his sister came racing down, and Caden went head first over the slide from very close to the top. It was bad, but it could have been worse. He limped over with some scrapes and bruising to his leg but no other visible injury. Caden only cries when it’s bad, but he had full range of motion so I decided to just monitor for a day or so. He still wasn’t walking on it after another day so I made an appointment with a doctor (Yay! Doctor visits within 2 weeks of arriving in South Africa). We prayed, and again God answered. The doctor said it was just muscle bruising and he would get back to normal within a few days. He was walking fine within another day or two. Just remembering the fall though – it could have been so much worse.

After being here for about 2 ½ weeks, we found and were able to move into our new home. We would need to fully furnish it though, and Cape Town surprised us by being as expensive or more expensive than the States (I guess since most everything is imported). I told our landlord that any furniture she wanted to leave, we would be happy to buy from her. She ended up leaving Kylie’s room completely furnished (bed, nightstands, desk, bookshelf), a large dining room table, a mirror and dresser, and the master bedroom fully furnished as well (bed and nightstands). Here is God’s goodness and provision: Our landlord said she would be happy for us to use these items and no need to pay her for them! That was a HUGE blessing and also relieved the burden of trying to find that much furniture to be able to move it.

But it’s not just these bigger things where God has shown Himself real. He answered things like opening a stubborn pickle jar and helping the puppy sleep through the night. I’m not preaching a “health and wealth” God that always answers every prayer however we ask, but I am wondering why we don’t pray more. . .