Never in my Wildest Dreams

How does He do it? He somehow manages to balance the scale of the world in his hand, and finds time to answer prayers.

This retreat, what struck me the most was not from retreat. It was surprisingly my sister.

It was about 10 seconds from the moment I saw her at church, and the moment she walked away and I went into the sanctuary, but those 10 seconds were unforgettable. Here's why:

Ever since I was in 8th grade and was at SMT Tijuana, I prayed for my family, but mainly my sister. Reason being, she hated church, but more so God. She despised him so much that sometimes she wouldn't go to church and tell my mom she did (when she got her license).

For some reason, I detected the lies, but I didn't know what to do except pray for her, so that's what I did. For four years, I prayed for her to go to church, to start attending regularly, to even give God another chance.

I saw no change. I saw nothing transforming. I saw disappointment on my face.

I gave up my prayer for junior year thinking it was a lost cause. But, somehow, some way, she changed last winter break. Her life broke down to her very foundations and it was rebuilt.

Her image from the senior year of highschool to sophmore year of college are direct opposites. She was selfish and hated everything about the family, but when she came home from college, she made a genuine effort to connect with every single one of the members of my family.

For example, whenever I talk to her now, she doesn't give me the evil look but she gives me a smile and actually acknowledges my existence (trust me, it can hurt when all she gives me is a glare).

But I didn't think she changed her habits on church.

New years came around, and we were all sharing our resolutions, and unbelievably, hers was to attend church while going to college, and to start fixing all the wrongs she committed when she was younger.

What the heck? That didn't sound like my sister. So I simply brushed it away thinking it was complete crap.

But God does crazy things. When retreat moved down to the college ministry on Sunday, I felt a sadness that we were back so early. But then, my sister actually poked me first and said hi. I was surprised that 1) she would do that in front of my friends and 2) she was at church.

So she said hi, and asked us why we were down so early. I answered, and she left.

It didn't hit me until later, but I realized that was church. That was actually next to the sanctuary she was in, where God was in, where her fellow classmates and students were in.

During the afternoon praise, all I could think about was my sister and my 4 years of prayer. All this time, God was listening after all. All this time, he didn't fail me, when I gave up. All this time, he was with my sister in her time of need.

So even when we fail, God doesn't. His unfailing cross saved my sister and united my family again.

God works in the weirdest ways and it's awesome!!

-Phil