A mother lay, to all human appearance, in a dying state. The doctor had retired to an adjoining room, with an attendant, and uttered these words, “I have done all I can now.” The eldest child (quite young) was standing near, and heard the terrible remark; bursting into tears, she said, “Doctor, you say you have done all you can—NOT ALL! you can join me in asking God to make mother well.” To this request the doctor did not yield; so the child fell upon her knees, and simply asked, “O Lord, please do make mother better, doctor has done all he can, but, Thou, O Lord, art the Good Physician, Thou canst make her well; we cannot spare mother, dear Lord, do make her well, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
As the child, after repeating her petition, still remained kneeling, the door said to the nurse, “Take the child away, she is mad!”
“Not mad, doctor,” exclaimed the child, raising her head to reply; “not mad—waiting for the answer.”
Her childish prayer was offered in faith, and she kneeled still “waiting for the answer.” It came very quickly, for upon the mother’s face there rested a calm and peaceful look, and a quiet sleep followed.
Awakening after a few hours refreshing rest, the loving daughter asked, “Mother, are you better?”
“Yes, dear,” she said, “I am certainly better.”
“I knew you would be better, mother, I have been asking God to make you better, and I have been waiting for the answer to my prayer; He has given it to me, and now I know He will make you well.”
The mother was restored, and is living today, a witness of the Lord’s power over disease and death, His love and faithfulness in answering believing prayer.
Dear reader, do you “wait for the answer” to your prayers? God does not answer all prayers so quickly as the one of which I have written, but the answer will come to each petition in His time, and in His way.
May this simple, true story teach us each “always to pray and not to faint,” but be “waiting” always also “for the answer,” it will surely come, for Jesus’ sake.
ML 09/23/1945