Seven Specific Prayers Answered by Godfeatured
Hello friends and neighbors!
I praise God that He is so real and available to us whenever we call upon Him. In this blog, I’d like to share seven prayers that the Lord answered me to show how real He is in hopes that it will stir you up to have a praying life. Before I start, I should clarify these four points:
- I am not a spiritual giant, nor am I trying to be one. I am a busy full time physician who loves the Lord Jesus, my family, and I am a member of the body of Christ.
- These answered prayers are meant to show you how loving and practical our God is when we turn to Him with a pure heart in prayer.
- My prayer life was uplifted after reading the book, “The Autobiography of George Mueller.”
- George Mueller lived in the 1800’s and was used by God to care for more than 10,000 orphans through out his life; he provided them a Christian education, clothing, shelter, food, and all was done by faith and prayer alone. He never solicited or advertised for help, but always turned to the Lord in prayer and waited on Him.
- I am clear that the most important and higher prayers, which I’ll cover in a different blog, are meant to usher the Kingdom of God to earth.
Number 1: New York Research Experience
For many years as a young man, I had a desire to travel. When I started medical school in San Antonio, Texas, in 2008, I kept thinking about the possibility of traveling but was financially limited. One time, as I was coming down the library stairwell, I opened up this matter to a friend who I knew loved the Lord Jesus very much and she said, “If you ever want to have God answer a prayer for you, pray first thing in the morning about this matter for two weeks.”
Therefore, I prayed every morning for two weeks on my knees, asking the Lord to release a research opportunity away from Texas. Weeks later while I was at a Christian home meeting, I met the wife of a physician scientist from Buffalo, New York. She encouraged me to contact her husband and inquire about a research opportunity. She said, “He likes to have medical students join him in research during the summers.”
Suffice it to say, I applied and was accepted and those two months I spent in Buffalo New York were amazing. I got to research a particular protein in the eye, visited the Niagara Falls, and even had the opportunity to spend time with Christians in the Buffalo area and Toronto, Canada.
That summer experience was the first time where I tested the Lord in prayer, and my faith in Him was strengthened in seeing how the Lord cares for us in such a personal way.
Number 2: Release of Furniture
As a first year medical student, other students and I stayed at a house where each of us rented a room. At the end of that school year, right before going to Buffalo, New York, for research, I was led by the Lord to eventually move out on my own closer to the medical school for my second year. The problem was that I didn’t have any furniture. The only piece of furniture that I possessed, which was given to me, was a mattress placed on the floor.
So right at the start of my second year medical school, I began to pray for furniture and the way the Lord answered this prayer never stops amazing me. My usual exercise routine was to bike in the evenings around a different university (not the medical school) as it was closer to the house I was staying at the time.
On this particular day, against my disposition to always attend classes, I decided to stay home and listen to the medical lectures instead. After a few lessons, my mind was begging for a break.
At noon time, I spontaneously went for a run toward a different neighborhood. I turned left on a street sidewalk and there was a young man getting lots of furniture and placing them on his front yard. I could tell he was in a hurry. As I got closer to his house, there was a white paper sign that read in black bold letters, “All free, take it.”
I asked him, “Are you really giving all these furniture away?” The young man, who wore a vest over a plaid dress shirt said, “Yes, I just got a job in Boston and I have to fly today and be there by tomorrow. I just don’t have time to sell any of it.” I asked him if I could have the furniture, and as he walked inside to get more furniture he said, “Yes, take all of it.” After I borrowed a truck from a friend, a next door neighbor helped me load up the furniture, which included: a black couch, nightstands, floor lampstands, large beautiful paintings, a small refrigerator, a painting easel stand, among many other things.
Number 3: Guatemala Trip
“For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” Matthew 18:20
The years in medical school went fast, and for my fourth year, I began to pray again to the Lord to release an opportunity for me to engage in both research and clinical work. This time, however, I asked the Lord for an international rotation.
Through prayer and networking, I found out about a research and clinical rotation opportunity in Guatemala City. I applied for it and was approved for it along with a stipend that would cover all my costs. Even though I had already been accepted to it, I continued to pray about it with brothers from church, inquiring with the Lord to release the right place to stay, transportation, safety, and for the Lord God to allow me to visit His local churches in that country.
An elder from the church in San Antonio connected me to a man by the name of Jorge Hernandez, who lived in Guatemala and worked for the government.
Mr. Hernandez picked me up from the airport and provided hospitality in his house for a whole month. They had a young maid who would help with cooking and other chores for their family, and every morning she would cook a delicious Guatemalan breakfast for me. During one of my conversations with her, the Spirit led me to ask her if she’d be open to receiving the Lord Jesus Christ into her heart, and she did receive Him! This was definitely a highlight of this trip, and I felt very honored that Christ used me in this way.
Mr. Hernandez was in direct contact with the president of Guatemala and was the director of a government agency where he had at his discretion a number of government vehicles for different purposes. He designated a particular driver by the name of Gustavo to pick me up from work everyday, and drop me back at the Hernandez’s house. Mr. Hernandez would drop me to work every morning at the clinic.
At the “Clinica Familiar Luis Angel Garcia” (CFLAG), an HIV clinic, which still stands there to this day, I investigated different strains of tuberculosis with other young doctors every morning. In the afternoons, we’d walk a few blocks to meet with the internal medicine attendings to see hospitalized patients at the “Hospital Roosevelt,” where I witnessed opportunistic fungal infections secondary to advanced AIDS cases.
Another highlight of my time in Guatemala was that every weekend I met with believers in that city, and on multiple occasions we drove together to nearby lakes, museums, and a different city, named Escipulas, where I spent time with other brothers and sisters in Christ. It was a precious and memorable time in that country, and I look forward to visiting it again.
Number 4: Cell Phone Delivered to My House
“Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Because of test anxiety, I didn’t pass the second medical licensing exam required to match into a residency program, where doctors train a minimum of three years into their chosen specialty. So after medical school I went back to my parent’s home in Dallas. Not only was I financially broke with a huge medical debt, heart broken from not matching into a residency program, but my phone was old and broken.
By this time, I had already read George Mueller’s Biography two times, and I had tested the Lord in prayer a number of times. I asked the Lord, “I could simply use my credit card and buy a new phone, but I give you this situation, can you please get me a phone?” I prayed for a phone a few more times and then something amazing happened.
One day, there was a knock at the front door, I went to answer it, and saw that it was my neighbor Mr. Welch. After greeting each other, the next words that came out of his mouth along with the joy in his face, made a memorable impression in me that I’ll never forget: “Frank, I just kept feeling in my heart over and over again to buy you a phone, so I went to Best Buy and bought you this.” Then he handed me a box with a brand new phone!
Holding the box in my hands, as if I was holding all my phone prayers was simply amazing. Once again, the Lord came through in such a miraculous yet simple way. This incident solidified my trust in our living God once again and reminded me that not only does He answer simple prayer requests such as a phone, but He even places burdens in people’s hearts without us asking or advertising for any need.
Number 5: My Wife Rachel
I first met my future wife Rachel at the local church in Dallas in 2007. I only interacted with her briefly a couple of times (though she doesn’t remember!) before heading out to medical school in 2008. She went to California to Bible school for two years, and then returned to Dallas. After medical school, I also returned back to Dallas.
At a Christian home meeting, I overheard a conversation about Rachel that she was single and that the knew how to speak in Spanish. Hearing that came to me as an infusion of vitality with the possibility of getting to know her. One of the qualities I had asked the Lord in prayer for a wife was that she’d speak fluent Spanish.
I prayed to the Lord about asking Rachel out and getting to know her. I didn’t know how to make my move initially, but I kept praying. But somehow a few vague inuendos from older brothers in the church regarding Rachel and I emboldened me to more fervently pray for Rachel. After a couple of weeks of more prayer on my knees, I was bold enough to make my move…
Rachel and I started courting and our love grew more for each other and eventually we got engaged and married. We now have three precious little boys. In the future, I’ll write more about my wife and her love for the Lord, but all I can say is that the Lord Jesus shepherded us by matching us together. After almost nine years of marriage at the writing of this blog, I can tell you that this marriage has been for Christ and the church and it has been such a blessing.
Number Six: Restoration of My Career as a Physician
Because of test anxiety, and as I briefly mentioned above in point number four, I failed (by just a few points) the medical licensing exam necessary for me to match into residency, which is the reason that after finishing medical school in San Antonio, I returned to Dallas. A couple of months after graduating from medical school, I re-took that test with less stress and anxiety and passed it very well, but now I had to wait until the following year to re-apply.
I think a few people would be surprised to learn that my first job as a newly graduate physician was picking up trash in high rise buildings. I was a new American medical doctor, an MD, working the third shifts to clean up some buildings.
Did I get your attention? Briefly, my mother who worked with other family members cleaning buildings, had gotten her chest wall hurt and she couldn’t fully do her work due to pain, so she asked me to help her out, so I joined the nocturnal team to clean a few high rise buildings in the DFW metroplex. I couldn’t get a job as a physician without any residency training anyway, so I did it to both help my mom and make a little money.
Several months later, I obtained a job as a medical English/Spanish translator for a couple of years, but in the midst of it all, on a daily basis, I cannot count the many fellowships, individual prayers, or corporate prayers that were offered to the Lord to restore my medical career and get me into a residency program to officially finish my training as a physician.
The comments from some people, even believers, were not always uplifting. At one point, a brother in Christ, who was a full time physician said, “It will be very hard for you to match into a residency program. The more years that pass by, the less desirable you’ll be in the eyes of the program directors. Only a miracle will be able to get you in.”
Well, three years later, the Lord performed such miracle, and I did match into my first choice of residency program here in south Texas, at the Valley Baptist Family Medicine Residency Program. And this is how Rachel and I ended up here in Harlingen!
Number Seven: 2000 Ford Ranger
More recently, I had a strong desire to buy a truck. However, I hesitated in buying it as we all know how pricy trucks have gotten lately. I opened up it up to the Lord and prayed sporadically for a truck. Well, just a couple of months later, a brother in the church here in Harlingen told me, “Brother Frank, the Lord put it in my heart to give you my truck (a Beige colored Ford Ranger 2000). He said, “There’s been two people that would like to buy my truck, but I have this feeling that I should give it to you.”
Now, if you happen to drive a nice, fancy truck, I would simply tell you to enjoy it and take care of it. I am simply sharing my personal story of how the Lord answered this prayer and in no way am I trying to say that anyone should be driving a particular type of vehicle or to compare himself or herself to my experience.
Yes, the Lord Jesus has indeed answered some prayers in my life in amazing ways, but compare these to the 50,000 specific recorded answers to prayers documented in George Mueller’s journals, many which were answered within 24 hours!
God is powerful and infinite and the creator of all that is seen and unseen, and yet He cares for our personal situations and specific petitions. Aren’t you awed by this? He has definitely answered billions of prayers throughout the ages of His many children.
I’d like to see what you think about this post. Feel free to drop a comment and share with a friend whose faith in our Lord may be backsliding. What prayers has the Lord answered in your life that you are thankful for?
Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
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