Pirates and A Conversation with God

You must be thinking based on this title of this post, where could this be headed, but trust me, it all works. You'll see why after you finish reading this.

I am an avid romantic girl at heart and always have been. I believe in the good guy will always get the girl and the bad guy will ultimately be defeated in the end. So I am captured by the allure of that romantic storyline wherever I can find it.

In the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl, when the concept for the movie first came out, I thought would fall flat. I had seen a Disney ride/attraction turned into a movie before when Eddie Murphy attempted to bring the Haunted Mansion to life and I believe failed miserably. So I wasn't hoping for much when Pirates was launched.

Let's just sum it up and say, die hard Pirates fan in a nutshell. Even though I know the true stories behind Pirate lore didn't involve all the humor that Johnny Depp brought to the character of Jack Sparrow, or sorry Captain Jack Sparrow but none the less, I was sold.

There is a point in the movie where Elizabeth Swann has been taking captive aboard a pirate ship and is about to enter into negotiations with the captain of the Black Pearl, who is Captain Barbossa. After all the story books she has read, she believes an articulate governor's daughter ought to be able to resolve matters with the pirates and her city of Port Royal.

The pirates only desire is the gold medallion that is worn by Ms. Swan that is the last remaining piece of Aztec gold that needs to be returned to its chest so that the curse of the pirates can be removed.

So Ms. Swann politely uses her best English vocabulary and asks for the pirates to leave Port Royal and never return in exchange for the medallion. Captain Barbossa promptly accepts and asks for his crew to way the anchor and make preparations to depart.

Poor Ms. Swan is dumb struck and demands that he uphold his part of the negotiations as part of the pirate code that all pirates are supposed to live by, whereby Captain Barbossa turns to her and states that is was she that failed to specify the where and the when of her agreement. Meaning he was not going to let her go, but that the ship will depart her town of Port Royal, she did not mention her release as part of that negotiation.

It was an interesting exchange of words and negotiations that the two entered and Ms. Swan found herself at odds with failing to ask for her to be returned to land before the pirates departed Port Royal. A huge oversight on her behalf.

This takes me to the conversation I had with God the other night while I tossed and turned unable to sleep. Not sure if it was the pain medicine or the pain but I simply couldn't sleep. I entered into a conversation that night with God. He was nice enough to make time for me.

My conversation took me back to the number of blogs I ran across that day, where people were simply desperate for prayer requests to be answered. Hearts were breaking, lives were at the point of being lost forever and I turned to God and asked, "Why?"

Not why, are these things happening because I know the why, mine was simply why don't you fix it if there are so many people praying for simple things for you to do.

I asked God why He doesn't provide more miracles. Like just a whole week where all the prayer requests that ask for miracles like healing a sick or dying child or restoring someone's memories to their former self or simply asking for more time with someone before their time is up, those miracles are the ones I was asking for during the week of miracles.

I questioned God and said, "I thought you were in the miracle business? Aren't those kinda easy for You to do? I mean just think how many people's lives would be changed if you just answered those requests for a week?"

I am not talking about the silly ones like, let me win the lottery or let me have the ultimate vacation or even a simple promotion but the ones that are healing miracles.

God asked me, "What do people ask for when they pray?"

I thought about it and said, "Healing Lord, they ask for their sick child to be made well again, or for their dying spouse to be made better."

God then asked me, "Why aren't they more specific in their prayers? Why don't they ask for exactly what they want? People are too vague."

I thought about it and agreed with God that most people offer up that blanket prayer of healing, or salvation or help to work things out with their families but never the details or specifics.

He revealed to me two unique situations in my life where He answered my prayers, but not along the way I wanted. But then again, they weren't the way I addressed them either.

My brother was going through a separation from his live in girlfriend and hated the fact that he would be forced to live with my father until he found a place of his own. Not something a 43 year old wants to do at the crossroads of his life, in the midst of trying to find another job.

So after living with my father, and hating it, he called me complaining of just how bad things had gotten. He said he would rather be stuck in some hotel room alone being able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, rather than dealing with my father anymore. He even prayed that would happened and even wished for it.

God answered that prayer. He gave him a job that allowed him financial security that eventually would get him out of my dads, but he would have to save for a bit. It also required him to be staying out of town for about three weeks. He called to say that he, my brother, was stuck in some dumpy old Motel 6 that he hated and would be like there for three weeks due to work before he could come home.

My response, "You asked God for anything besides being stuck at dads and even staying in a motel room where you could come and do what you wanted would be worth it. Didn't you get what you asked for?"

He thought long and hard about it. Said I was right, hated that fact that I brought up and said he would be careful about what he asked for in the future.

I prayed to God that my husband would get a job that would allow him to work again since he had been out of work for almost a year so we could resolve our financial mess, and possibly allow him a job that would allow him the ability to tackle projects needing solving, something better for him. He's a great problem solver.

So God gave him that job. It provided all the things I had asked for, made more money than he had before, that eliminated our financial worries, and would allow him some creative problem solving. Sounds great right?

Yeah until you get to the details. It meant Steve would be working out of state for almost 90% of his time. The pay was great but at another cost to our families stability.

When I called to talk to my brother about this little inconvenience in my life, he was quick to remind me just what I asked God and reminded me that He did answer my prayer and I should think about it the very next time I lifted something up in prayer.

To tie all this together God told me that we need to be specific in our requests for prayer and include the details and specifics. If we make them too broad, even though He knows what it is we are asking for, it is a learning process for our prayer life. He will only answer them so far.

Until we make them, that specific and details, some if not most of the answers to our prayers will be just like my examples I provided above.

When I get to heaven I can't ask why He didn't answer them, God will merely smile and say it was me that failed to specify the where and when!! From here on out, my prayer life is completely changed because I know just how to pray and was reminded of that when we spoke that night.

God also asked why I had asked so many others to pray for my injury and healing, yet I failed to ask for it as well.

I explained to God I just thought there was something for me to learn with being injured and I was going to praise Him in it anyway no matter how much pain I was in.

Before He left. he asked me to pray and ask specifically for myself and what I really wanted and needed. He said we would talk later and left me to my silence and the darkness of my bedroom where I prayed that night. I prayed I would be able to get out of bed and begin to walk again and do things around my house and not be stuck in bed not being able to move flat on my back anymore.

Guess what happened on Sunday, yup, despite some lingering pain, because I failed to mention it in my prayers that I wanted it to be pain free, I was up and walking on Sunday and even had the energy to sit and just watch the kids enjoy time at the lake.

Here is proof, me sitting in my chair, reclined at the lake in the wooded area of the park.



and a picture of me at the lake as well. Miracles do happen!




God is so insightful and amazing. I love Him like that. He is an amazing teacher.