A couple of months ago, I shared some frustration in my life in my “Queen Cranky Pants” post. I regret to inform you that I remained fairly cranky off and on for the past couple of months. One big issue has been that of Daniel’s summer associate position (a paid summer internship) for next summer. Basically, he didn’t have one. Since the end of August, I have gone out to the mailbox dreading the rejection letters that would come, and come they did. I usually get the mail in the afternoon, so I would have to call him and say “ XYZ law firm doesn’t have a job for you”. This happened several times. This was not only depressing for him, but discouraging for me too. Seriously, who wants to be the bearer of bad news?

He has had several interviews but there just are not many jobs to be had. Two weeks ago on a Friday, he got the rejection of yet another large firm here in town. Needless to say we were very discouraged. There was a small glimmer of hope in that on Monday he had one final interview, one last chance to get a summer job here in our town. This was pretty much our last hope.

STRESS!

Time passed and today I went to the mailbox and saw a regular envelope from this last hope firm. I was sick. Offers generally come by phone. As I walked back into the house, I dreaded the call I would have to make to Daniel. I just did not want to give him more bad news. What do you know (ok, you’ve probably guess at this point)…he got the position! I literally jumped for joy and called him in disbelief. I could not believe that the last possible chance he had, was the one that worked out for him. I have been in a state of happiness ever since.

It occurred to me later on this evening that I had extra reason to be joyful. Of course, Daniel and I had prayed for God to provide a job. On this particular occasion though, we had fasted the day before his interview. We have done this more than once, and on this day we both felt compelled to do so, so we did. The more I thought about it, this was also the only job prospect we fasted over. We were both truly at our wits end. I had thought several times, “Why would God provide the opportunity of law school and then not provide the job to go with it?” In hindsight, I think we were resting too much on Daniel’s abilities, and not enough on God. I was kind of like the person James describes as double minded. I was praying and asking the Lord to help but trusting in human ability at the same time. James 1:5-8 says : If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Faith is sometimes fleeting when you are discouraged. I know this is the case for me. Yet faith, as we see in the James passage is a requirement of prayer. We must pray believing. This is where I believe fasting comes into the picture. In Matthew 17:20-22 Jesus tells us that “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting are ways we act on our faith.

Fasting and prayer are two things that are meant to be done together. Many of us pray, but when we fast our prayers are different. Not only are we acting in obedience to the Lord, but we are suffering a little physically for spiritual strength. What a blessing that is for us.

God does not always answer our prayers the way we want Him to, but many times He chooses to give us exactly what we ask. He chooses to answer our specific requests with specific answers, and that to me is amazing. God cares about me personally. He cares about you personally. He watches out for us, He hears us, He answers us, and when He does we should praise Him!

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