Over the past few years, we’ve been especially fond of seeing indigo buntings in our backyard, in addition to the cardinals, blue jays, spotted towhees, and various other birds that visit. But Jesse had the pleasure of seeing a rare yellow bird once that I’d missed. Since some of the ways I delight in the Lord most are through His creation and color, I asked Him to please send the yellow bird(s) back to join our red, blue, orange, black, and brown feathered friends.
After this request, the thought came – why limit it to yellow? What I would really love to see are birds as beautifully and brightly colored as those found in the tropics. But I had no idea if that was possible in this part of the world. So I amended my original request and asked the Lord to please send us the most beautifully colored birds that are possible to see here.
Not many days later, Jesse noticed a new bird at our feeder. He looked it up and thought it was a painted bunting, and began pointing it out when it would show up. I could tell the bird was multi-colored, which I loved, but didn’t yet realize my prayer was being answered till last weekend, when Jesse handed me binoculars to take a closer look. What I saw took my breath away – a vibrantly colored bird, like something you could see in the tropics! At that moment the Lord brought my prayer to my remembrance and I was in awe!
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Last night my awe multiplied when I asked AI what the most colorful bird you can see in the Southern US is, and it responded, “The Painted Bunting is arguably the most colorful bird you can see in the South of the US. Male Painted Buntings are known for their vibrant plumage, featuring a blue head, green back, and red throat and underparts…. Females and young males are a more subdued green, but still quite striking.”
One of the links AI provided said, “Male painted buntings are so brilliantly colored they look more like a painting than a bird; indeed, they are sometimes called the “nonpareil,” French for “unrivaled.” …Painted buntings frequent brushy areas, woodland edges, and marshes all over the Southeast, though many migrate to Florida and the northern Caribbean for the winter.”
I was amazed at the specificity of this answered prayer for the most beautifully colored bird possible to see here, even down to the detail I didn’t know would be possible – that this same bird can actually be seen in the tropics!
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I know this may seem incredibly trivial or even silly in light of the severe struggles and serious needs people are dealing with (including ourselves). But I hope it might bless you, as it has me, with the reminders that
~ God hears us – every thought, desire, and whispered prayer
~ He cares – even about our requests that are insignificant and unimportant in light of so many other things.
~ And as our loving Father, He delights in blessing us with the desires of our hearts.
To be honest, if I were to rank the order of importance of which desires of my heart I’d most want God to fulfill and which prayers I’d most want swiftly answered, this would not have been high on the list. And the Lord knows that as well. If He’d given me the choice of which breathtaking answered prayer to receive that day, I’d be sharing a different testimony today. But when we’ve been clinging to God’s promises for many years, with wounded faith and wearied perseverance, awaiting the fulfillment of His Word in other areas of far greater significance, this kind of swift answer to another request can still be a sweet gift – a reminder of His constant Presence and His attentiveness and care about even the smallest, seemingly unimportant and insignificant, details and desires.
May this swift answer to something insignificant encourage us that He also hears the cries of our hearts and is at work in those weightier matters and needs, where we’ve not yet seen the answers and breakthroughs we need. May it inspire us not to give up when hope feels stretched thin, but to keep diligently and persistently asking, seeking, and knocking till we receive, find, and the doors open, as He’s promised. 
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Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Psalm 37:4
Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)…. see Luke 18:1-8
Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good an advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him! Matthew 7:7-11
We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.. Hebrews 6:11-12
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? see Matthew 6:25-34
Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created. Revelation 4:11
O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures. Psalm 104:24
#Hehears #HeCares #HeAnswersPrayers #dontgiveup #keeponasking #keeponseeking #KeepOnKnocking #FaithAndPatience #DelightYourselfInTheLord
