(Un)Answered Prayer

"all night in prayer"

Luke 6:12

There was a traffic accident outside our house last night.  It's not the first time.  Our backyard overlooks a somewhat busy street in our city, and every three or four months we hear the screech of tires as a car going too fast tries to react to something.   And then sometimes the screech is followed by the sound of impact.

We've seen cars hitting other cars, and cars hitting the light pole, and cars hitting the median.  But yesterday evening it was a car hitting a bicyclist.  Scary.

We couldn't identify the sound at first.  Frankly, I didn't even hear a screech, I just heard a metallic thunk.  It sounded like when I was a kid, and we had metal trashcans and one of them fell over or was banged into.  My husband went outside to look around a little bit, and when he looked over the wall, he could see what had happened. 

The driver was there, and the cyclist had not been alone, so his friend was there, too.  They were obviously calling 911 already, so there was nothing we could do. 

Nothing but pray, of course. 

The worst accident we've ever witnessed was several years ago.  There was a horrific crash about 11pm ~ a driver going the wrong way crashed head-on into a car carrying two people, both of whom died.  One instantly, one at the hospital later.  The driver who crashed was fleeing the police due to some other crime I have now forgotten about.  He ran away from the accident, and was apprehended in our next-door neighbor's backyard. 

The kids slept through the whole thing.  {Mercifully.  It was quite frightening to wait inside our house as we heard the police running through our yard and our neighbors' yards in pursuit of the driver.  I'm glad I wasn't having to explain things to the kids, or reassure them.} 

And after the police took the man away, my husband and I went back outside, as we didn't know how bad the accident was.  An ambulance took the passenger away, and we watched the police pull a sheet over the driver.   And then, because it was a crime scene, the police/paramedics/coroner were there all night.  They set up bright lights, and did all those things that have to be done ~ taking photos, measuring skid marks, dealing with the victim, etc.  We slept very little that night, as our bedroom faces that side of the house, and there wasn't much chance of blocking those bright lights, even if we hadn't been somewhat traumatized by what had taken place. 

I was so aware of prayer that night.  I'd never felt so helpless as when I watched those terribly hurt people.  I thought about their families, and the phone calls they would be receiving with the news.  And I prayed and I prayed. 

I thought about all that again yesterday evening.  I knew the cyclist was far less hurt than that time ~ I could tell he was talking, and I saw him move his toes when the paramedics told him to.  But I could also see the dent in the hood of the car, and that he was bleeding in a couple of different places. 

I don't think I'll ever know how he is, and how well he recovers.  There are two major hospitals near here, so I don't know where he was taken.  I don't know his name, and even if I did, with confidentiality laws being what they are, I doubt the hospital would tell me anything about his condition.

So again I'm in a position where all I can do is pray, and I won't ever know the answer to my prayers.  But I'm glad to be doing my part, and glad to know my prayers matter to Him.  But most of all, I'm glad to know that whether or not I ever know His answer to my prayers, I can trust His plan for whoever I'm praying for.

~ "Pray for one another" ~

James 5:16

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