A True Story of Faith

A personal story showing how God can answer prayer in unexpected ways, even in our most desperate moments shared by guest writer – Ben Walker

Has God ever saved your bacon? 

Rescued you from calamity? 

Answered a heartfelt prayer in a striking and notable way?

It seems a reasonable question to ask a professing Christian, don’t you think?

Christmas is now in our rearview mirror. The decorations are back in the loft and new year’s resolutions perhaps started, are perhaps already abandoned?

With bank accounts low and challenges high, February can be a cold and tricky time. Hang on in there!

Cycling Into East Germany

In my early twenties I cycled into East Germany with a mate. The Berlin Wall had just come down and we were curious.

The shop shelves were very empty and so were our wallets. We had experienced trouble drawing cash. 

My friend was a super bright linguist and a Cambridge graduate. So, it was naturally he who went into the hotels and I who stayed outside guarding the bikes.

No Rooms, No Cash, No Hope

Each time he emerged with a thumbs down. No rooms. We were exhausted and discouraged. It was now becoming dark and cold as we considered the prospect of sleeping rough.

On our previous days of cycling, occasionally taking the train, and twice a boat, we had, amongst other topics, discussed my recent new life as a church-attending Christian. 

My friend with his fridge freezer brain had contorted me with clever and challenging questions. He was sceptical. Fair enough.

I didn’t fancy a night on a park bench. I urged him to try once more. He told me he was done and that I could give it a go, if I wanted.

‘But I don’t speak any German!’

He’d already turned his back in defeat and disgust.

A Desperate Prayer

In protest, I said a prayer out loud. ‘Heavenly Father, please help us find somewhere to sleep tonight. Amen’

The Wrong Door That Led to the Right Place

And so, it was I who wandered like a fool through the wrong door of an East German hotel only to find myself standing in the middle of a commercial kitchen. 

German men in kitchen whites turned to consider me in my T Shirt, lycra shorts and trainers. 

I began a clumsy charade of awkward gestures, desperately trying to articulate our need of two beds for the night.

(It’s true, isn’t it, that desperate situations will drive us to do desperate things.)

I was surprised when one man beckoned me wordlessly with a crooked finger to follow him back through the door and out onto the darkening street.

My friend looked up quizzically, and I shrugged back at him.

An Unexpected Guide in a Trabant

My German chef had climbed into a small battered Trabandt, a car synonymous with the isolated strictures of communist life behind the Iron Curtain. 

He beckoned through his rolled down window and, rather comically, we mounted our bikes and pedalled after him. 

Our tired legs were relieved to see him pull up several hundred metres later and beckon us through the doorway of a small white building.

Hospitality That Felt Like a Miracle

We would later come to understand that we were in a self-contained annexe attached to his mother’s house. 

We were invited to make full use of hot showers and sleep under crisp white sheets only to rise refreshed, to a beautifully laid out breakfast with hot coffee.

When I reached in my pocket to offer money to our gentle hosts a polite smile of refusal was his response.

A Friend’s Surprising Admission

As we cycled away into a new day’s bright sunshine we were both strangely silent, lost in our own thoughts, trying to make sense of things. 

My friend eventually broke the silence. ‘You better thank God for answering your prayer.’ He looked uncharacteristically sheepish.

I grinned at him. ‘Thank him yourself!’

Looking Back at a Lifetime of Provision

Now aged 61, I have known numerous moments of God’s faithful provision. 

He is not a genie of course and just because you pray, the answer is not always yes. 

But then my response to the pleas of my three children was not always a ‘yes’. 

Sometimes it was a flat ‘no’ and sometimes a ‘not yet’. My children might not have appreciated my reasons.

Life Isn’t a Rose Garden — But God Is Faithful

But looking back down the tunnel of my life, I have noted that the more I have prayed, the more coincidences have happened. 

Sometimes remarkable things which despite my ineptitude, show the care of a loving Father. 

Life has had its challenges, pain and disappointments. The bible doesn’t promise a Disney outcome.

In the words of the old Country and Western song; ‘I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden’

However, I have known, over and over, the faithfulness of God’s care and have come to value prayer as a privilege and a connection point. 

The hopeful cry of a son, in faith, to a Heavenly Father who loves him.

Going Through It, Not Around It

Do you know the children’s book by Michael Rosen, ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt!’ ? 

To each obstacle encountered, the book choruses;

 ‘We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, we’ve got to go through it!’ 

And that is so often our life experience.

Some things we just have to soldier through. 

The God Who Walks With Us

But my experience is that in those cases, God’s response to my prayer is to go through it with me, step for step;

the ‘Good Shepherd’, is sometimes before, sometimes behind and sometimes, well, frankly, carrying me.

The Heart of the Gospel

God is not remote. Indeed, He chose to come down from heaven and live among us. 

Born a vulnerable baby, in a hostile world.

Growing to 30-year-old man.

And then 3 extraordinary years of ministry leading to His crucifixion and risen victory over death itself. The ultimate act of loving service. 

A Holy God, paying the penalty charge for our wrongdoing, with his own innocent blood, because he loves us that much.

Challenge for Today

If, like my twentysomething self, you feel tired discouraged and desperate, try reaching out in prayer. 

And if you sense God beckoning, get on your bike and pedal after him!

It really could lead somewhere good.