I have been praying for many years for two gifts. They both were answered the same week. I laughed and cried with joy at their fulfillment. How immediately the dread lifted. What a gift!

This reminds me of the gifts of God and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes a sense of dread keeps me awake at night. Yet Love is working all the time, behind the scenes. The struggles and sufferings so heavily borne in the mind, change in a twinkling, in a moment with the news that all is well, all is done, all has been accomplished. 

Is this why so many times people laugh with joy in scripture when their prayer has been answered? I have a picture of Simeon, the man who prayed all his life for the hope of seeing the Messiah. The picture is him as an elderly man holding the Messiah while crying and laughing with joy. Was he feeling a sense of dread as his old age drew closer, did he experience more despair? The artist of the picture must have believed so because laughter and tears of joy are shown running down his face. Both laughter and tears originate from surprise and a profound lightening of the interior burden carried. We cannot laugh with joy when we are burdened. We cannot cry unless the very core of our heart is touched.  What lies in our hearts except the wellspring of our heart’s desire? 

I think of my friends Tiffany and Emmanuel praying for a child. I think of friends praying for miracles around the world:
for healing
for abundance
for safety
for wisdom
for rescue
for new life
for forgiveness
for salvation

What prayer is God working behind the scenes that you have been praying for day and night that will surprise you with great tears and laughter when God answers in fulfillment according to His love and will?

Are you where you need to be when God answers?

At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,

“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
I have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared for all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”