If you’re a Christian, you probably need no convincing that God loves you very much. Perhaps, you know the scriptures that say, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” and “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” These and countless others in the New Testament that you often feel are addressed personally to you make you feel so loved (Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 49:16).

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(Related: You Are So Loved!)
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One way I find that the Lord demonstrates His love for us is taking note of our desires even if He does not grant them immediately. Sometimes, when we’ve totally forgotten we asked for such a thing or given up, God brings it to us as a pleasant surprise. The fact that we weren’t expecting it increases our joy at having it. Isn’t it just wonderful that we have a Father who never forgets what we ask for that will bring good, not evil into our lives. See how the Lord Jesus reminded us of this:

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” – Matthew 7:11 (KJV)

I remember this study bible that I saw at a friend’s house. It was the Life Application Study Bible (NIV). I went through it and loved how it showed the relevance of the Bible passages to our lives and gave clues as to how we could live them out. I longed to have one as I was using the NIV for my daily Bible reading. But search as I might, I couldn’t find it in bookstores around.

About a decade later, I reconnected by phone with a friend I had lost contact with for about fifteen years. One day as we were chatting, we shared information on Bible study tools and he mentioned a wider range of books than I had. Then, whoopee, he said he would search for the Life Application Study Bible in his own city! Shortly after, I had in my possession a lovely leather bound edition that he’d sent me. The only difference was that it was the King James Version. But that was okay because I had the Devotional Study Bible (NIV).

Sent by a friend but a gift from God

Then there was this apartment I admired in the early 1990s. It was a top-floor apartment in a one-storeyed building adjacent to the church I attended. A friend of mine was living there and it had spacious rooms and wardrobes plus other features lacking in my flat then. During one visit, as I moved about the apartment, I told her to be sure to give me advance notice when she and her husband planned to move, so I could get the place.

She didn’t tell me when they moved, perhaps, because she felt the landlady had someone else lined up to live there. But many years later, my senior colleague at work who had retired got a contract appointment with the university and hired the opposite flat on the same floor (the flats are identical). The facilities in the house were falling apart then. So he fixed a new bathtub, changed the toilet bowl, some windows and doors. But he never quite liked the place and stayed in a hotel whenever he came to town. About a year later, I asked to take over the flat.

He hesitated but after a few months, he asked me to see the landlady. By December 2008, I moved in there, enjoying a few months’ rent balance before making my own payment. I also used his living room furniture for a while (I had none myself since my previous flat was very small) until I built mine. All I did prior to occupying the place were minor electrical jobs, changing the major locks and repainting to my taste.

Cosy in the flat I wanted for so long

I cannot fail to talk about a very special person in my life. I started attending one church in July 1993 or thereabouts. One of the other members was a little old lady, poor and uneducated. I liked her a lot but we merely exchanged greetings occasionally. I wanted to be a part of her life but I don’t like being too forward in such matters. I prefer to let God make the connection.

Besides, I wasn’t sure I could be very helpful to her because I was poorly paid even as a university lecturer. I used to joke to my friend, Ifeyinwa, that we came to Nsukka for ditch digging, not white collar work. That was how bad the situation was. I could barely sustain myself, helping my family meant denying myself, so I couldn’t possibly take on more responsibility.

In the course of time, to the glory of God, our pay improved somewhat and I developed a relationship with another old lady in the church. That woman went to be with the Lord some years later. Subsequently, after a church service, I had a conversation with the original old lady. Through that conversation, we began a relationship. Now if you hear me saying, “My mummy this, my mummy that,” it’s not my biological mum I’m referring to (she’s late), but this dear woman I’ve loved for so long.

It might be that God gave me the other lady first because she was more needy and had a trying health condition. I thus had the privilege of providing her with a little comfort. Then when she was called home, God brought close the first one that had caught my interest. I couldn’t have done it on my own. Always, I see God’s hand initiating and sustaining such relationships.

I could go on and on but I’ve shared these few instances to illustrate that God does indeed record our desires and grant them in time. Does that mean He answers all our prayers? Not necessarily. (For a teaching about God’s different ways of answering prayer and how to respond when he says “No,” see the related post below.)

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(Related: When God Says “No”)
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But the point I want to stress here is that sometimes God “takes the trouble” to spoil us or make us ecstatic. It may be about something big like a far away place you’ve always wanted to visit or a charity you’ve been longing to set up. Or it may be something as little as a dish you’ve wanted to taste but couldn’t arrange or an outfit you’ve admired but couldn’t buy. Big or small, whenever God grants such long-held or long-forgotten wishes, it is so amazing and heartwarming: a confirmation that He loves us so much and cares about the littlest details of our lives.

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The scriptures used in this post are from the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible unless otherwise stated.)
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Hi! I’m not the only one who has experienced the subject of this post. Kindly share, if you may, one or more testimonies of how you received from God something you asked for long ago or something you always wanted but couldn’t get.

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