Sometimes, God answers our prayers with a sense of humor. Check out our favorite funny stories of when God showed up and see why “He that is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” (Proverbs 15:15)
An Unlikely Answer to Prayer
Our house is on a large plot of land surrounded by tall pine trees. It’s beautiful, but it comes at a price. The needles carpet everything, and pine cones fall more often than rain. It’s a big problem for our rain gutters, which quickly become clogged. My husband, Butch, and I are uncomfortable climbing a ladder, so we used to hire a handyman, Dennis, to clean our gutters several times a year. He always did a great job. When he retired, we were at a loss. “Where will we find someone like Dennis?” Butch asked. “Maybe we should pray on it?” I suggested.
Days later, I glanced out the window as a shower of pine cones came tumbling down. I thought nothing of it until Butch and I drove out of the garage hours later. Thwack, thwack, thwack! Pine cones rained down onto the hood. We looked up to see the source—and caught eyes with a squirrel! He’d been rooting around in the gutters, dislodging pine cones as he went. We laughed. Though he was a little smaller and furrier than expected, here was the gutter cleaner we’d prayed for. —Sandra Guthrie, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Quarters from Heaven
My husband, Tim, and I were headed to our car after a delicious steak dinner when the subject of Grandpa George came up. Tim’s beloved grandfather had enjoyed nothing more than a good steak. And a good practical joke. “Whenever my grandma scolded me, Grandpa George would stand behind her and make funny faces,” Tim said. “One time he told me tuna made the best bait. So the next time we went fishing, he tied a can of tuna to the line!” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I wish I’d known him,” I said. “When did he pass away?” Tim scratched his head. “How could you forget that?” I teased. “Your own grandfather!” “Well, let’s see,” Tim said. “It was either 1969 or 1970….” PING! I glanced down. A quarter had fallen at our feet. No one else was near us in the parking lot. Where in the world had it come from? Tim picked it up. “Minted in 1970,” he said. Tim paused, then cracked up. “It was 1970,” he said, looking up at the sky with a big grin. “Thanks, Grandpa George!” —Ellen Clairmont, Grass, Michigan
A Prayer Answered—with Emphasis
I flipped open my book of devotions to a random page. Between my husband’s job being in jeopardy and my own troubles at work, I was in need of some spiritual guidance. Perhaps God would point me to a passage I needed to see. A verse jumped off the page: Isaiah 40:31. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” it read, “they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Not the guidance I was looking for. I needed answers, maybe even a solution. I wanted another verse, but before I could turn the page, I heard a thud and our cat screeching. “Me-oooow!” Now what had she gotten into?
I ran toward the commotion, only to find one of the shelves of our new bookcase on the floor. The cat must’ve been checking it out. A single book lay open. Something on the page caught my eye. There, in bold print, the author had quoted the very same verse I’d just read: Isaiah 40:31. All right, Lord. I get it. I guess when God wants to give a message, He makes sure it gets delivered. —Christina Friberg, Thornton, Colorado
Someone’s Listening
I’d moved to New York City to become an actress. But life in the big city wasn’t what I’d pictured. Everywhere felt so crowded compared to my West Virginia hometown. There was no privacy. Not in the subway, on the sidewalks or even in my brownstone apartment. The building had an air shaft running through it, so you could hear everything going on in other apartments. Every day brought a blur of noisy neighbors, frustrating auditions and packed city streets. So when I broke up with my boyfriend of two years, it felt like the final straw. One evening, I got home and broke down in tears. “God, all I want is someone to love me!” I cried.
A few days later, I got a phone call from John, a man I’d met briefly at a party my landlady had thrown. He asked me out. I was flabbergasted. Had my prayer been heard? After an amazing date, I asked him why he’d called. “Your landlady heard your prayer through the air shaft and thought we’d make a cute couple.” And we do. John and I have been married for 37 years. My prayer was heard in a way I’d never expected. —Deborah Novak, Huntington, West Virginia
He’s Got Your Back
I was running ragged. My husband was away at a conference, meaning I was taking care of our seven children under the age of 12 on my own. I hadn’t had a spare moment to myself. Now the kids were in bed, and all that separated me from some quiet prayer time was a load of laundry. I dropped the clothes into the machine, added the detergent and shut the lid. Nothing left to do but wait. I opened my Bible, letting out the breath I felt as if I’d been holding all day. I cleared my mind, closed my eyes and opened myself up to whatever guidance God had for me.
“Don’t forget to put in the bleach,” a clear voice said. What? I thought. Was that a metaphor…? I waited for the next part of the message. Surely, God wouldn’t be speaking to me about…laundry. But I got nothing else. I figured it couldn’t hurt to check. Sure enough, when I opened the lid to the washing machine, I realized I had forgotten the bleach! Maybe I didn’t get the message I wanted to hear that day, but it was one I needed. God does see all—even in the laundry room! —Susan Mullan, Elkton, Maryland
