“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?”

–Psalms 13:1

I recently came across an amazing story from the life of C.S. Lewis. An act of cruelty had cut him deep and he had prayed for God to help him forgive the offender. He later wrote in one of his memoirs that it took him thirty years before that prayer was answered. Wounds can cut deep, some more than others. Prayer is an essential in the process of softening hard hearts. How many of us are that committed to prayer? How long have you prayed to God about someone or something?

I have thought about this much in my life. As a child, I watched my mother’s consistent and fervent prayer life. She was not reared in a Christian home. Yet, even in dark places God is not far from those who seek him. She started praying for her parents and family as a little girl. There were some challenging years and rocky roads for their family, but God heard and remembered. When I was teenager I saw my mother’s many tears as she longed for Christ to come into their lives. In my own discouragement, I remember telling her to give up. It was not until I was in college that my grandmother’s heart began to soften and she started going to church with my aunt. My grandfather was particularly stubborn when it came to faith. Even as the years passed and my aunt and grandmother were faithfully worshipping at a nearby congregation he still resisted God, but that prayer chain had gotten stronger. I will never forget the night I received a phone call from my grandfather telling me he had confessed his faith in Christ and was baptized. It was a true miracle of God! It was the answer to a prayer that had been lifted up by my mother for nearly five decades. I’m so thankful for her prayerful persistence.

Then there is the prayer life of my wife. When she and James were married she began a constant prayer, “Lord open his heart.” They were very young when they got married and started a family. Sunday after Sunday she would go to church while James stayed home. She was like so many women in the church, married but single in the faith. She carried the torch of faith to light the house for her family. For seven years she begged God to lead her husband to Christ, until one day it happened. She was called out of the classroom at the Christian School where she worked. Not knowing what was happening, she thought she was about to receive bad news. Instead, there in the hallway stood James and the preacher from the church. Tears were rolling down his face. “I’m sorry it took so long,” he said. James was baptized that day and his life was never the same. God heard Heather’s prayer.

Right now, my grandfather, grandmother, and James are all in heaven. Prayer was a part of that bridge. I’m sure there is someone in your life that needs your prayerful attention. It could be someone you’ve prayed for a time, but have felt like I have in the past and given up. Can I encourage you to believe in the impossible, that God can change any heart?