When Un-prayed Prayers are Answered

“My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.” James 1:19-20

I was having a bad day at work. We were working short-handed. Again. The doctor I was working with was an hour behind and his patients were relishing taking it out on me. One woman in particular had an attitude that just plain made me mad! It wasn’t my fault that she had all these problems or that the doctor wasn’t running on time.

We carry our notebook computers with us from room to room and I usually keep my e-mail open on it. I had just gone in a room with the next patient when in the corner of my screen the little box popped up informing me that I had a new e-mail. The heading was "slow to anger". A co-worker sent daily Bible scriptures and I happened to receive this passage right at that moment.

I caught my breath and nearly fell off my chair. I was even tempted to say something to the patient I was with; I actually almost wanted to give him a hug and tell him how much he was loved. That probably was not a good idea. Instead I refocused and finished questioning him about his symptoms and getting his vital signs.

After I left the room and pulled the door shut behind me, I leaned against the wall for a moment. All my anger was gone, the tension in my body had ebbed away. I smiled.

God is always with us. He knows our every need every second of every day. He answers our prayers even when we don’t pray. When things are dark and we don’t know how we can get out of yet another mess, God is there. Sometimes He sends the perfect e-mail at the perfect time, but most of the time we don’t realize until much later what He has done for us. But never, ever think for a minute that He isn’t right there beside you.

Lord, God Heavenly Father, thank you for the little things and for the big things. Help us to remember that our anger will never make things better; that the best way out of any situation is to turn it over to You. You are with us. Amen.