Does God Still Answer Prayer?
by Bev Manzer
Abraham was sent by God into an unknown country. Talk about losing your comfort level. We also, because of a commitment to our very sick son, were sent to an "unknown country," known as Milwaukee. The first few nights there were spent in the Hospitality Inn, but we knew our finances would not support us long in that situation.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Why were we in Milwaukee in the first place? Dave, our son, had had a mitral valve replacement in Indianapolis but the recovery did not go well. Nevertheless, he was told to go back to work as a basketball trainer. He was working with a young man when the boy's father, a kidney transplant doctor, told another trainer, "Unless you want to do CPR on your partner, you better get him off the court and right now!" That doctor was the son of a heart transplant doctor in Milwaukee and he put Dave and his wife on a plane and flew them to Milwaukee, where Dave was immediately admitted and given a Jarvik artificial heart. That was just the beginning of the journey to this unknown area of Milwaukee, where the hand of God removed us from our comfort level but into His loving care.

Our home church in Owego spent literally hours daily on their knees bringing our needs to the throne of grace. The following reports how God took their prayers seriously as He cared for us on this 11-month journey.

Dave had called a church with which he was familiar and the same day their pastor called at the hospital and informed us he would find us a place to live for as long as we needed it. To prove that God does lavish His love on His children, He provided us a brand new home, built with a two-bedroom loft for anyone, such as missionaries, who might need a place to stay. It was owned by the most precious Christian young couple and located a mere five miles from the hospital.

Dave's dad needed to be housed closer so that in case of an emergency, he could be at our son's side in a few minutes. The Family Care Unit of the hospital provided nice small bedrooms for a three-day stay, to be renewed once only. Our Lord used the staff there to make arrangements for us to bypass the rule and allow him to stay indefinitely, and they chose one with an extra wide room. Again, God lavished His love on us.

In Indianapolis, our daughter-in-law was faced with the loss of their home since she could not work. God did it again! Over $50,000 (USD) was donated for their support at a county-wide benefit concert held at our home church. Lavishing love seems to be what God does best.

God spoke to a wonderful Greek family we met in the hospital lounge about our Thanksgiving meal. They brought in a full course meal (including linen table cloth and napkins) to the conference room, just a few doors from Dave's room. What a feast!

Our Christian "landlady," who is a supervisor at the same hospital, changed their office gift exchange program so that the entire office purchased gifts for us for our Christmas. What a lavish Christimas we had! New down-filled coats for both of us, and many, many gifts for Dave's wife and children. We had never had such a huge Christmas in our lives.

We also became acquainted with the great food suppliers in the cafeteria who insisted on setting up a special table for our Christmas night meal and it was all on them. They loved us lavishly with God's love.

The gracious housekeeper of Dave's room insisted on showing her love by cooking us a traditional Spanish New Year's Eve's treat in the form of hot tamales made only as the Spanish can make them. Oh, the love Christ lavishes on us, His children.

Since my husband is known as a workaholic and our church knew this, they prayed specifically that he could find something to keep him busy during the day as I spent time with Dave. Again, the new home where we were housed needed landscaping and the house our landlord's had moved from needed to be prepared to be sold. What a lavish opportunity God supplied just for His child.

Many trips were made from Milwaukee to Indianapolis as we took turns with Dave's wife as she visited him and we moved on to watch the children in Indianapolis. The trips required 5 hours one way, and we logged over 35,000 miles accident free, thanks to the protective love of our God. Therefore to answer the initial question-does God still answer prayer? We feel we are living proof that He does.

Thank you Jesus!


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