A few days ago I passed by our old neighborhood in the city we live in. It was the first home my husband and I lived in and where my children were born. It reminded me of a long ago prayer that was answered for me in a special way. The city decided that maintaining the street lights was too much of a financial burden so they turned over the responsibility over to the local utility company. The new owners quickly decided that the ornate street lights that had been part of our city for years were to costly to maintain. I followed the process in the paper..the small outcry from the community was met with the company's firm stance that people must face reality that the acceptance of bland street lights similar to those that most modern cities use was inevitable. "Lord, Jesus", I prayed , "please let me keep my street lights...it is part of this city." Little did I know that behind the scene negotiations where going on to replace most of the lights in the city but to recreate the old lights in small parts of the city using bulbs that would still save energy. My prayer had reached heaven and lo and behold my street was one of the few streets that would maintain the old style lights that looked like a lamp post. I looked out many nights afterward and said a prayer of thanks to God for hearing my hearts cry. Some time later we moved and with the installation of new lights over the city perhaps I lost the wonder of what God had done because it didn't seem a big deal to leave my lights behind. Then the other day when I took a look at those old style ornate street lights which still remain on my former street I was reminded that God still answers prayer. My prayer seemed small and not very noteworthy...I'd even forgotten it...yet God used a visible reminder to me that He still hears our hearts cry. Pulling in our driveway...I wish my prayer had been expanded to include the whole city...for now my view is of the new non descript lights....my vision didn't cover the fact that we would someday move across town.
