Unexpected answers

 I want to tell you the story of my Dad, who died from cancer over the summer.  My Dad was not, as far as I know, a Christian.  Despite the fact that he went to church many Sundays in his life and knew the Anglican prayer book evensong service off by heart I don't think he ever really understood who Jesus was and in conversations I had with him ( very few and far between) he always said he thought that life was over when you died and there was no such thing as heaven.

My parents divorced when my brother and I were very little.  We used to go to Dad's to stay in summer and Easter holidays.  At some point my brother and my Dad fell out and by the time James was a teenager the relationship had broken down completely.  For years, without understanding why they weren't speaking to each other, I acted as a sort of go-between and tried to make the peace between them.  Over the years I began to see that my brother was deeply affected by the absence of a Father in his life.  I tried to explain it to Dad but he just didn't get it.  He was of an era which didn't express emotions and certainly didn't understand the finer points of psychology or spiritual laws.   For about thirty five years I prayed on and off for the miracle I knew it would take to get them back together.   I have to confess I didn't have much faith.

As a result of the many many conversations with my brother about Dad over the years, Ive had the opportunity to talk to him in depth about God, to pray with him and sometimes to cry with him over the phone.  Eventually, after a few false starts, they did resume some phone contact but Dad was deeply suspicious about what it was all about - unable to understand that James didn't want anything from him except a relationship with him.   To be honest, I was happy that they were back in contact and counted that as answer enough to my years of praying.  But God had more.  Firstly my Dad was able to tell James exactly what had happened which caused him to break off communication - and it was something so trivial and so far back in the dim reaches of time that neither James or I could quite believe it.  But the very fact of knowing, and the realisation that it wasn't James's fault , was huge for my brother.  This in turn led to a dramatic improvement in the relationship between them.   When Dad became ill with cancer James started phoning regularly .  Dad thawed out and began to enjoy these conversations and express some concern for James when he became ill with Lymes disease a couple of years ago. 

It was all better than I could have hoped for and I never missed an opportunity to tell people who had been praying for prodigals and estranged relationship that even after decades God was able to bring reconciliation and healing.

The week Dad died was amazing.  I knew that several people were praying for Dad and for me ( I was stuck in Northern Ireland under lockdown and wasnt able to go over to be with him - which was hard) The last phone conversation James had with his Father was amazing.  My Dad told James that he was ' a good bloke' - and those three words broke off a curse which had been weighing my brother down for decades and healed a huge hurt in his heart in an instant.  Amazing.   Then, my Mother ( divorced from my Dad for 50 years and about whom Dad had nothing but negative things to say) phoned him on his deathbed to say her farewells.  Had she told me she was going to do this Id have tied her up and cut the phonelines in order to stop her.  I could have sworn it would have ended in disaster.  But what do I know? 😊  According to Mum they had a lovely chat, reminisced about the old days and at the end of the conversation Dad blessed her - leaving her with no unfinished business and at peace.  I was astounded at the goodness and kindness of God. 

Dad died, at home in his own bed, with his lovely wife Marion holding his hand.   It was a Sunday and when the undertakers came to take him out of the house Marion had the television on.  It happened to be Songs of Praise and my Dad's favourite singer ,Katherine Jenkins, was singing  a hymn.  Marion told me that she felt something special was happening as he was being carried out to the strains of that beautiful voice.  Isnt that just lovely?   Having not been able to see my Dad in the months leading up to his death I was just SO grateful and thankful to God that He had tied up every loose end and watched over every aspect of my Dads passing.  I still have no idea where Dad will stand with Jesus on judgement day, but that's not for me to worry about really.  I prayed alot towards the end of Dads life that when Jesus came for him he would go with Him.  Dad was an awkward bugger so he might have dug his heels in at the end - but then Jesus is so irresistible and lovely and persuasive that Im pretty sure Dad will not have been able to deny Him in those final moments.

So, the moral of this story is....... however difficult the breakdown, however long you have been praying, however impossible the situation seems to be - don't give up.  Most people in the Bible had to wait years, sometimes decades for their answers.  Israel had to wait centuries for their Savour .  But God is always good.  He keeps His appointments with us and His promises to us. He hears our hearts.  He knows each need for healing and peace.  He is always at work bringing threads together and weaving people and circumstances into a tapestry of good.