Unprayed Answers

The year 2009 marked the height of what would become known as the Great Recession. Times were tough economically. Businesses were really struggling. Charitable giving was down. That’s when I felt God ask me to quit my job as a research scientist and start a ministry using horses to help people. Thanks, God. No, I mean it! Thanks, God! Because that is where I started to really see God at work. That is where I started my descent, and God began his rightful ascent in my life.

Having finally agreed to step off the hamster wheel, it was like I finally saw the invitation I had cast off to the side—to the party I had missed all those years ago. Or perhaps the date was set for just this time. At any rate, I picked it up and dusted it off. The wheels set in motion the summer those girls came to ride horses at the farm so many years earlier began to churn in earnest.

As I looked into doing some kind of horse ministry on our little farm, I visited with an old friend who had been running a horse boarding facility for years. I wanted to talk weed control, fencing, liability insurance . . . God had other ideas. She had been hosting a little summer program called Handi-Riders, which used horses to help people with disabilities. Before I knew it, I joined forces with them intending to include a Christ-centered mentoring program for kids from hard places. And we had a 20-year lease on the entire boarding facility—for a dollar a year. That’s right, twenty bucks! Handi-Riders became HorsePower, and we were off to the races. I hadn’t asked God for an indoor riding arena. I hadn’t even thought of it! Yet here it was, an unprayed answer!

The Bible emphasizes the importance of asking God through prayer, yet often we fail to do so. We will say, after we have tried everything, “Well, all we can do is pray,” when that should be the very first thing we should do. And too often we focus on the “unanswered” prayers, not realizing God answers all prayers. The answer might just be to wait—or no. In this season, God showed up and showed off through a whole series of unprayed answers! Even as my pride or unbelief kept me from seeking God first, he showed up in the most amazing ways—providing things I needed and was striving for in my own strength even before I asked.

One day, as I came up the gravel drive to HorsePower, I could see our part-time maintenance man busy tackling the weeds around the outdoor arena. Weedwhacker in hand, he ambled towards my car and leaned on the door to chat through the open window. He was likely in his seventies, retired other than the few hours we could pay him for at the barn. He could fix anything, worked hard, and was the nicest man you could meet. But today, he had a bit of a gripe. When would we be getting a tractor? He pointed out the obvious fact that it was near impossible to manage a horse barn without one, especially at his age. We had a feeble, old hand-me-down tractor with a broken bucket that no longer raised. We could shove the round bales around a bit, but it was useless to pull fence posts, pick up rocks, or dump manure. I commiserated with him but confessed I had no idea how we would ever afford a tractor. We were barely making payroll.

Providence

It wasn’t but a few days later that I received a phone call out of the blue from our board president. What she had to share made my mouth drop open in awe. She had received a call from the Lennox Lion’s Club. They wanted to donate a tractor! God is simply so amazing. It wasn’t a surprise cash donation, not even “just the right amount,” which, of course, would have clearly indicated God’s working. It was the very thing we needed—a tractor! Signed at the bottom, as I’ve come to say: Love, God. I hadn’t mentioned my conversation with the maintenance man to anyone on the board. I didn’t know anyone from the Lennox Lion’s Club. And I hadn’t prayed about it, either. It was just what we needed, just when we needed it: Providence.

The spring of 2010 was unusual because of heavy rains that came long before the ground thawed. The frozen ground was unprepared to receive the deluge, creating a muddy mire in the few feet that were thawed before being stopped from going further by the frozen subsoil. This barnyard, designed initially for horse people with trucks and four-wheel drive, was not designed for the vans and mini-buses that brought out folks with disabilities using wheelchairs and canes. Seldom a day went by that spring that one or more vehicles didn’t get stuck in the mud, requiring the assistance of a chain and a tractor. (Thank God, literally, at least we had the tractor!) We tried to make light of it. The caregivers that brought our riders out to the barn took pride in not yet getting stuck—until the day they got stuck, which seemed inevitable. We thought of making T-shirts that said, “I Survived the Spring of 2010 at HorsePower,” with mud splatters as part of the design!

One large van became especially entrenched, nearly buried up to the vehicle’s underside. Most of us were too big to fit underneath to get the chain wrapped around the axle. One of our best volunteers was a tiny little thing, and she agreed to give it a try. She was able to get underneath, all right, but she emerged looking like she had been in a mud wrestling contest! As luck would have it—no, as God alone could orchestrate—this woman’s husband owned a quarry and had all kinds of connections in the gravel and paving industry. She went home to inform him that, somehow, they would be putting in a parking lot at HorsePower. As a result of that divine appointment in the mud, we got a paved parking lot, fully equipped with a curb and gutter, absolutely free! Five or six vendors in the community donated labor and materials to meet our pressing needs. Other than this petite volunteer, I didn’t know any of them. I hadn’t dared to pray for an entire parking lot! Just what we needed, just when we needed it: Providence.

Times were getting even tougher. Hay prices were skyrocketing. Donations had been dwindling, and we were looking at some pretty big red figures in our year-end ledger if something didn’t come through—to the tune of $30,000. I hustled to find grants, in-kind donations, new donors, and old donors. I remembered a family foundation that had given $1,000 before. I would give them another try. Every little bit would help. I didn’t pray.

This foundation was established by the family of a friend with whom I had gone to school, attended church, and been confirmed. While her father had passed away, another man was listed as the director and, assuming it was her uncle, I decided to invite him out to the barn. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe some cute kids on ponies would be worth at least as many dollars, if not more! When this man arrived, he was far younger than I had envisioned and vaguely familiar. It turns out it was not her uncle but rather her cousin. And he had been confirmed with us as well! Assuming he was a believer, I proceeded to share all that God had been doing in my life and how he led me away from a career in science to this nonprofit, using horses to help people. After “God this” and “God that,” he finally stopped me to say, “Kaia, I am not a believer anymore. I am agnostic, at best. I wish I could believe. I would love for my daughter to have something to believe in. But I am just not sure there even is a God.” As it turned out, he had so many unanswered questions about his childhood faith. Scientific "proofs" had all but robbed him of any faith at all.

I sat and pondered this, in a bit of a dilemma. Scientific evidence was a huge part of my faith journey, and I wanted so badly to hear his questions and see if I couldn’t help him see how the evidence actually supported the Bible! But I wasn’t here to evangelize. I was here to raise money for a secular organization that let me have a little faith-based mentoring program on the side. The internal debate didn’t last long. I didn’t care if he didn’t give a dime. If this prodigal had questions I could answer that might turn him around and send him back to the Father, it was a no-brainer. So, nearly two hours later, with a whole lot of discussion on geological, biological, historical, and archaeological evidence for the Bible and very little on therapeutic horsemanship, we parted ways. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be giving any money to HorsePower, but I was consoled by the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he would be giving his heart to Jesus.

A few weeks later, nearing the year’s end without much of a dent in the $30,000 deficit in our budget, I received a call from this gentleman. He had decided to donate to HorsePower after all! He was wondering if I could come to get the check so it would be cashed before the end of the year. Absolutely! So, I met him on the arranged date and time to receive the donation. I opened the envelope and withdrew the check made out to HorsePower—for $30,000! We ended the year in the black. Just what we needed, just when we needed it: Providence.

Beggar in a Suit

Between my career in research and my time in the nonprofit world, I had spent much of my adult life asking people for money. Just before my time at HorsePower, at the beginning of the Great Recession, the head of the hospital where I worked had called me a beggar in a suit! I had been able to get money for our research program even though he had announced at the meeting just prior that no one was to come asking for more money anytime soon! I didn’t really think of it as "begging." I was inviting. I was inviting people to participate in the exciting research we were doing. I was inviting people to support an amazing cause out at HorsePower. The key word in all this was . . . I. It seemed like the future of the research program depended on me. The sustainability of HorsePower depended on me. And it was a heavy load to carry. While I relished the accolades and the recognition for my ability to raise the funds needed, it was a heavy load.

One day, as I was having coffee with a coworker, I remember confessing that I just wanted to be part of a ministry that depended on God to do the heavy lifting, where we would pray earnestly, trusting that he would provide for all our needs. Not that I wasn’t willing to do my part, but in light of these recent unprayed answers, I was hungry for more of God and less of me! I wanted to follow God so closely that he would make the way clear. He would orchestrate events, touch people’s hearts, and prepare the soil for rich harvests for his kingdom work!

As I left that coffee shop, my phone rang. It was the voice of a stranger. Someone from a new church that had started up in town. They were having their vacation Bible school and were looking for a good cause to give their offerings to. Someone had recommended HorsePower! While the offerings amounted to several hundred dollars, it also resulted in a gift from this stranger’s workplace—which amounted to several thousand dollars! I had never heard of this church. I didn’t know of the community fund offered by the workplace. I hadn’t prayed. Completely unsolicited, perfectly timed with my confession: Providence. It was signed at the bottom: Love, God.

So, while the Garth Brooks song thanks God for unanswered prayers, I thank God for unprayed answers. These much-needed, perfectly timed, unsolicited gifts were building a foundation under my faith that no scientific evidence could have made. God is great, and God is good. Just think if I actually began to ask, to trust . . . to believe?!

“And my God will meet all your needs according to

the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19 NIV

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably

more than all we ask or imagine, according to

his power that is at work within us.”

Ephesians 3:20 NIV

“He must become greater, I must become less.”

James 5:20 NIV