Today I had a patient give me a new perspective on prayer.  His medical condition has resulted in him having increased difficulty with tolerating solid foods.  Specifically, he has been on a diet that has not allowed him to eat breads.

Now I don't know about you, but if someone took away my favorite food or drink, I think I would do just about anything to get it back. This man was desperate to have bread and said that he had even got to where he was praying to have it back on his plate each meal.

Two seconds after me entering the room he was already asking me what he had to do to have a roll for lunch.  I told him to open his mouth, stick out his tongue, and then smile really big.  Then I said, "you can have a piece of bread for lunch".  He then smiled really really big!

"He said how can you do that?  You can really make it to where I can have bread on my plate again?"  I explained the role of a speech-language pathologist and how we assess people's swallow and see what is the most appropriate diet for them to be on.

He then laughed and said "I guess prayer might actually work, all I had to do was ask for my DAILY BREAD!  We both had a laugh at that moment, but we also realized the profound impact of the moment.  The man literally and figuratively had been praying the way we have all been instructed to do, and then God sent me there with the skills and abilities that I had to answer the prayer.

A week and a half ago the man could have choked to death on a piece of bread, today, he was ready for what he had been asking for.  God wants all of us to pray daily and specifically for the things we want and need.  He knows those things, and he will deliver, but not until the moment that it is right and safe for.  He will deliver right when we are ready and not a second sooner!

"Give us each day our daily bread" Luke 11:3