Several years ago, I stood in the Crossville Wal-Mart, beside a clearance rack, where I had lost my solitary car key. A single car key amongst several racks of clothing needed to be found in seconds. My friend Sheliah and I had forty-five minutes to pick our children up from school in Jamestown. I simply prayed, “Lord, help me find my key.” The nudge to look in the pocket of a particular dress yielded my car key.

We find a similar story in 2 Kings chapter six. A group of men journeyed to Jordan to cut down wood. As one man was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water. He panicked because the ax head was borrowed and cried out to his master. The man of God asked where it fell then cut a stick and cast it to the place where the ax head sank. The iron swam to the surface! The man took the ax head and I assume finished his task before the group left Jordan. 

My friend Sheliah and I made it back to get our children and I have given God credit for this miracle ever since. I was desperate and God answered my prayer on the spot.  The Biblical account of the lost ax is akin to my account of the lost key. In both cases, God answered immediate requests from his children. Those times are a blessing to behold but what happens when answers aren’t immediate?

Don’t stop praying. If your wayward child is wandering in the world God knows. Sickness may have consumed your body or the body of one you love. You’ve prayed for months and the symptoms grow worse, keep praying because God hears. The mailbox is full of bills and the car breaks down. The budget is beyond stretched. Pray until all is resolved. Your lost family members and friends shrug off your concerns for their souls. God will be faithful to work conviction within their being. Whatever the situation, prayer is the key to our dependency upon God to work in every situation whether now or later.

Pray without ceasing. I Thessalonians 5:17