What an answered prayer looks like.

There was a point in my life when I was ready to either completely trash my christian faith or actually try to live it the way I've read it described in the Bible.
My life wasn't working. It had basically fallen apart. And I knew that I had pretty much only myself to blame. I had to honestly admit that I'd never really lived it according to the principles I'd read and knew of. It was at that moment-- a couple years ago now-- that I spoke to God in the most honest prayer I'd said in my life up to that point. The gist of my words were: "I'm willing to give you the remaining 2% of my life that I've kept 'secretly' for myself; I only ask that you be REAL and POWERFUL in my life."
God got a sucker bet that day because He is, after all, real and powerful.
One aspect of God demonstrating both His reality and powerfulness is in Him answering prayer. I'd like to share a short story of just how God has been answering a prayer for my wife and I.
My wife is a psychologist who has been working in a group practice in Salem... a 1-hour drive each way.
After we got married and moved in together in Milwaukie, it was apparent that a more desirable work location was in order. We quickly decided that instead of placing supreme importance on pounding the streets, putting out 'feelers' and checking the want ads, we would pray about our need and express our desires for a better work situation to the One who knows all things.
Within 2 weeks, a grad school friend of my wife's returned a call to let her know that his office was expressing a desire to expand and he would put in some good words.
Fast forward a few weeks and a few meetings & interviews... My wife has been hired at her friend's office.
What is so cool about this location is that (no lie) this is the CLOSEST office building of any kind to our house. She could NOT have gotten hired at any place of business closer to our home than this one... which just happens to have a psychology practice.
Due to the practice's expansion, my wife gets to have a BRAND NEW office... with a wall of all windows... overlooking a water fountain. Not bad for the new girl, eh?
Moving from one practice to another had also presented some insurance issues. One must be approved to various "panels" in order to bill each corresponding insurance company. Some insurance companies' reimbursement rates are better than others. It seemed that the "sucky" insurers gladly accepted my wife's change in venue, while one (very popular) better panel in particular decided that they were "saturated" and would not allow her on their panel in the Portland area. (Although an online search through the company's OWN website showed only ONE other psychologist treating similar populations in a 100 square mile area. Nice). This represented a sizable client base. So we prayed again.
Fast forward a few weeks...
The company rep who had basically told my wife that 'it wasn't gonna happen' called out of the blue one day and said that the company had changed policy and my wife could simply transfer her contract to her new practice. My wife was the "first person that came to mind" months after their initial and brief contact. So now my wife is again on one of THE best paying panels there is. Because they had a sudden and unexpected policy change. And did I mention it's the panel that most of her previous clients were insured by?
Oh, did I further mention that an unusually high percentage of my wife's clients are going to follow her up to Milwaukie?
And finally, we got notice from the new location's office staff that yet another highly-utilized panel in Portland not only accepted my wife, but they wanted to make her one of their "preferred providers" right off the bat-- which is basically unheard of. This panel was denying one of Milwaukie's current & long-standing providers that status! Anyway, OUT of THE BLUE this panel wanted to make my wife one their "preferred providers." Just like that.
There are coincidences and then there are definitive, blow-your-mind answers to prayer beyond what you are able to ask for or even imagine.
And literally, out of the blue yonder!
THIS is what I meant by REAL and POWERFUL: ability to meet our very real & pressing needs in concrete and definitive ways... and in such a way that shows it is beyond simple coincidence or 'good luck.'
It's a GOOD GOD, my friends. :)