Prayer Request

I believe in the power of prayer.

My mom was a prayer warrior and had a board devoted to prayer requests that she prayed over faithfully. I readily share my requests with family, church members, friends, and coworkers. And they also share. Seeing God answer and move on behalf of His children is a powerful testimony. Recently, I experienced a crucible moment that involved a groundhog destroying my landscaping and porch. This situation caused me quite a bit of stress and money.

Many prayers were prayed as I asked the Lord to help with the situation.

Once the trap was set (on Independence Day of all days), my constant prayer was for the Lord to allow it to be caught in a timely manner.

After a couple of days and still no groundhog, I put some lettuce by the trap to see if he was still around and simply avoiding the trap. Yep, he ate it all but remained free. After a week had passed with no success, I moved the cage and put fresh apples inside.

The following day I returned home to find all the apples gone but still no groundhog! Turns out the trap was defective. I called the trapper to come and put out a new trap.

Usually very attentive and prompt, this time, the trapper seemed to have other priorities. Becoming more frustrated, I decided to enlist the services of someone else.

He promptly came and set a new trap. I continued to pray that we would catch the groundhog soon. The next day, I came home to find his cousin, a squirrel, had been caught in the trap. After his release, the prayers continued.

A couple of days later, I noticed none of the fruit left outside of the cage had been eaten. I put some bricks over the hole.

After several days of no disturbance or movement of the bricks, I concluded that the groundhog had moved out and it was safe for me to have the steps to my porch repaired and secured, as I had done with the rest of the structure.

My constant prayer had been that the groundhog would be caught.

Never once did I ask the Lord to remove the groundhog, which is how He chose to answer my prayer. Now my prayers are for the Lord’s will to be done in my life, and however He sees fit to answer, I know I can trust Him completely.

Angèle Peterson