Thirteen years ago I was a first-year graduate student in the field of speech-language pathology. My husband was in his first year of grad school for music education. We were on an extremely tight budget, no insurance, no substantial jobs (we both worked part-time) and trying to suss through the labrynth of life as it came to us. On top of it all, we were expecting our first child.

Now, if anyone of you have had a baby, you’ll remember the cost isn’t in the single digits. Not even in the single-thousand digits. Insurance is amazing, but as I told you, we didn’t have any. Ben was born on an early winter morning, no complications, and even before we got home from the hospital I wondered how on earth we were going to pay the bill. (The baby in the pic is my youngest, Phoebe, I couldn’t find a digital pic of Ben)

I started praying and researching. I discovered that some hospitals will “write-off’ certain bills if the person qualifies, so I applied. Our first bill came $7,000. Our second bill came, $3,500. And there were more on the way. Lab fees. Doctor’s fees. The list went on.

I called the hospital, waited about thirty minutes on hold, and finally spoke with a representative. One sentence cleared up everything. “Your bill has been discontinued. You no longer owe anything.”

Celebrate? You bet I did. I wept, praised God, and did a little post-pregnancy dance in my kitchen. I was so grateful and so…free. No longer bound or weighted by that debt.

And salvation is even bigger than that. It’s amazing.

So what do you do when God says ‘yes.’?

People do different things: 

Some people have happy tears, maybe even dance. Others may weep silently, some smile with apprecation, others feel an overwhelming sense of euphoria.

Our prayers can be simple, everyday ones. “Lord, please let me find a parking spot.”

or longer, deeper ones. “Father, heal my child of cancer.”

Recurring prayers, immediate prayer, heartwrenching prayers born with sweat and tears.

When God says, ‘yes’, the result is immediate. Praise.

Praise is expressed in as many ways as there are emotions, but our common response is gratitude. We’re given something special. Something we didn’t have before. Maybe even something we didn’t deserve.

If you have a good grasp on theology, you’ll realize most ‘yes’ answers we dont’ deserve. We were God’s enemies, separated from Him, judged as guilty. We didn’t deserve any good gift, and yet… Romans states, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.”

He wrapped His Son up in human flesh and delivered him to the world. The perfect gift. The only salvation. The most marvelous gift anyone could ever imagine. Once we were seen as enemies and now we are viewed as dearly loved children.

Our joy in His love alone, should be enough to make us sing, dance, or shout with appreciation. the knowledge of his love alone should overshadow our disappointments of this life.

But our Heavenly Father is even more gracious than this. He gives us more. Homes, food, jobs, friendships, our wants, our needs…an overabundance. He fulfills our dreams, opens our minds to knowledge, and brings us into deeper relationship with him.

We have spiritual blessings many people never know. Hope, peace, soul-glowing joy. Because we know a God who answers prayer, and because we are His kids, we can approach Him with our broken hearts, our fearful wishes, our greatest hurts and find His love.

We can celebrate His goodness as a Father who gives such good gifts to His kids and rejoice.

Matthew 7:11

^“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”