The Wish That Is Granted ... And Granted ... And Granted

Some people think God is a genie in the sky who should wave His hand and grant them their heart's desires.

Normally I don't subscribe to this way of thinking ... but there has been one wish I have uttered to Him that He grants over and over, each time I ask for it:

I ask Him to bring people to my door who need to hear about Him.

And guess what: He obliges me, sometimes within a few hours.

Why do I need to make this request?

Well, eight years ago I left my career as a news journalist to start a magazine freelance writing business out of my home. I am about as extroverted as one can be -- usually I score off the charts on personality tests as a people-junkie.

So when I decided to work from home, mostly because I was burned out from the frenetic pace needed to gather daily news, it took some adjusting. Soon, though, I figured out how to feed my need for interaction with lots of emails and phone calls -- and occasionally a trek to a local Chamber event where I could schmooze.

In time I built up a successful little operation and have never hurt for work.

But when my baby was born and my husband was in Iraq at the same time, I had to retreat from the public interaction. I could only work four hours per day -- the rest of the time, I was taking care of my infant. And it was during this time of my life when I began to yearn for something a little more -- my own mission, my own way of reaching out to others.

But how to do it? Clearly, as a new mother and a sole business proprietor, there wasn't much opportunity to do the types of things I'd done previously, even when I was first starting out as a freelancer.

So one morning, I sat down and prayed.

"God," I said, "I don't have much of a chance to leave my house. I really want to help other people to know You. But I have no idea how to do it."

Immediately, the answer echoed in my heart and mind: "Ask Me to bring them to you."

Huh. Really? Could He do that? Would He do that? I was living in little Raeford, North Carolina, in a new housing development that had formerly been a cotton field. Was it possible that He would lead people to me?

Well, I thought, it can't hurt to ask.

I did. "OK. Please bring them to my door. Anyone who needs a friend, anyone who wants to talk, anyone who is searching. Please bring them right here."

Within the hour, my doorbell was ringing. It was a neighbor from across the street -- a young Korean woman who struggled with English and who had a 2-year-old. She wanted to invite me to her house for lunch. She had no friends and was lonely, because her husband was in Special Forces and traveled to Latin America frequently.

Throughout that week, more people came to my door ... little girls selling cookies, other neighbors who wondered if I'd watch their cat while they went out of town, even Jehovah's Witnesses.

They haven't stopped coming to my door, either -- not when we lived in Augusta, Georgia, and not even now, when we live in the middle of the woods in central Kentucky.

We laugh at the phrase, "If you build it, they will come" from "Field of Dreams," but in my case, it really is the truth.

If I built a haven for people and opened my heart to be used by God, all I had to do was ask for Him to lead them to me.

And He did.

If you think you're too scared to talk to people about Jesus ... or if you think you're not in a situation where it's possible ... think again.

Ask God to bring them to you.

Then ask Him for wisdom, so that when He leads them into your path, you're ready to share what He wants them to hear.

Because I guarantee you -- this is one wish that He will grant, hands down, each and every time.