Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who told me a story I would like to share. This friend of mine is active in a ministry that takes him around the country and the world in his travels. Because he is always traveling he lives out of a combination of suitcases and a storage unit. He is currently taking an expensive medication prescribed for him to relieve his high blood pressure. In his recent travels he misplaced a three-month supply of the medicine, which equates to a large sum of money and would leave him without his needed medication until he could obtain another prescription. After making calls to all the places he had been that week in his travels he unfortunately couldn’t locate the lost medication anywhere. Passing through Atlanta on his way to Panama City he was able to visit a doctor who renewed his prescription and he quickly obtained another three-month supply. Safe once again from the dangers of high blood pressure he continued on his journey to Panama City. After a few days in Panama City visiting here and there, moving things in and out of his storage unit and unpacking his belongings for what would be a three-week stay, he realized he had misplaced his medicine again. He immediately panicked and started tearing through the room he was staying in and all his belongings there. The thought of having misplaced another supply of medication was creating an overwhelming amount of stress for him. Unable to find the medicine in his room he frantically searched through his car, then after not finding it, he drove to his storage unit and spent a good part of the day tearing it apart in search of the missing medicine. He told me that after what had been about six hours of frantic searching he conceded to losing another expensive supply of medication. Getting back into his car and wondering how he would go about arranging to get more medicine something inside him urged him to pray, which through all the frantic searching had never crossed his mind. He said that after about three minutes of praying he was given the thought of searching in the zipper of a travel bag that had been in his possession the whole time, less than two feet away from him in his room and again in the car. The medication was recovered and the trial had come to end.

  So often when faced with stressful situations, trials and challenges prayer is our last resort. It is so often an option only after we exhaust all other options. As we rummage through our baggage trying to fix what’s been broken or replace what’s been lost we often forget we have a loving Father who is above all things and in control of everything. A loving Father who finds the lost and mends the broken. Who wants to be our hope in the troubles that we face and our joy in the victories we embrace. We see over and over in the story God is telling how prayer brings peace to panic, insight to difficulty, healing to illness and joy to hopeless situations.

  Philippians 4:6-7  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.