Answered Prayers

Do you remember that old story about the man on the roof during the flood. He is crying out to God to send him some help, and while he is praying 3 opportunities for help pass him by. There is much more to that story, but the main idea is that we often pray expecting some specific answer to our problem or dilemna, while God may have had some other solution in mind for us. Today I experienced just that. My 4 year old daughter is enrolled in a Christian private school for Kindergarten. After much prayer and much research my husband and I believe that this school is absolutely where she is supposed to be. Well, when we went for the orientation and discovered the cost of tuition we got a little scared (little is putting it mildly). The biggest concern we had was the up-front fees (registration, books, etc). We (my husband and I) prayed seperately that evening (during the orientation and tour) that if this is where God wanted her to be, would He please take care of the up-front fees. Well, that evening (at the end of the tour) the school held a drawing to cover the up-front fees - and WE WON! As we were leaving the school my husband and I knew that God had answered our prayers.
We had to start paying tuition in May for August, June for Sept. - you get the idea. We knew that the tuition payment during the summer (while we are paying day care) would be difficult. This month it was particularly difficult. This afternoon I prayed that if God wants my daughter in this school, would He please take care of the tuition for the summer months. I really expected Him to provide the extra income to take care of the bill. My husband called about an hour ago to tell me that he had talked to the school and that they would be happy to allow us to start paying in August instead of May, and that we now have a credit to our account. It took me about 30 minutes after the conversation w/ my husband to realize that God had answered my prayer - not in the way I expected, but in His way. How awesome to recognize when God answers a specific prayer - and how humbling to realize that God's way is not usually my way, but that God's way is ALWAYS better!