A Fervent Prayer
We were boarding the plane in Boston on our homeward bound flight. The flight was going to last about three hours and I had booked the tickets late, so we were seated in row 39, seats A and C all the way at the very back of the plane. This row of seats was all that was left.
The up side was that no one was sitting in the seat between us . . . yet.
But passengers just kept pouring onto the aircraft. I knew it was going to be a full plane because it was full a month ago when I bought the tickets. Surely any empty seats would have been sold by now.
Cindy began to pray.
“God, please don’t let anyone sit here.”
“God please let this seat stay empty.”
Over and over again she repeated this prayer. She knew that if someone was to sit in that seat she would be, for lack of a better term, a prisoner. Closed in between either me or a stranger and the bulkhead of the airplane, she would be relegated to playing ‘King of the Armrest’ in that very small confined space for the next three hours.
So she was praying that the seat would remain empty. She was praying fervently.
People kept coming down the aisle. Some would get almost all the way to us and then turn aside.
Cindy just kept on praying.
Time and again, it looked like someone was looking right at us. Seeming to say, ‘Get ready! We’re about to get real friendly!’ but every one of those people found their own seats before they got to us.
When the Flight Attendant finally announced that the door was closed and ‘our’ seat was still empty it was followed closely by a very happy “Thank You Jesus!”
God answered her prayer. I don’t know how but he did it.
The plane took off with one empty seat and it was right there between us.
I will never understand how He can answer a ‘small’ prayer like this and not the ‘big’ ones that come along sometimes, at least not in this lifetime. Maybe it will be in the life that comes after this. When I get there, then I will see more clearly.
But right now, I am thankful that God answered Cindy’s prayer.
. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. – James 5:16 KJV