He Hears, Even When We Don't Cry

"I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.   Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2

God really blessed me yesterday.  It's a simple thing, a trivial thing almost, but it's amazing how one simple phone call that you weren't expecting can just totally turn into a blessing.  

Our new dance year started this week for the kids.  We actually have classes year-round, but after a week off last week, this is the first week of the new school year for dance.  Every year it seems we add more and more to our plate as far as dance goes.  The more Abigail has been in dance, the more we really feel that this is a path that God has her on for a time.  This year, she is up to five different classes, and it's been a bit of a challenge to get all those classes bundled into just two nights a week- reducing the amount of time we're at the dance school.  But then this year, Zander started dance too.  He's been having such a blast over the summer with his dance class, that I knew we made the right decision to let him decide if and when he ever wanted to take dance. But his class, really, the only one we wanted for him, was on an evening we were already busy with church. 

It was kind of a sacrifice moment.  Not that we needed to sacrifice one activity for another, because they were both at different times, but it meant a night of craziness for us.  Going to dance, rushing home to eat dinner, and then rushing off to get to church in time for the mid-week service.  Skipping church was never an option, we really feel that the kids get their best teachings on Wednesday night, coupled with enough activities that they don't actually know they are learning important things.  It's great.  As the summer went on, and we adjusted to this new schedule of back-and-forth, I just kind of accepted that this was our new normal.

I wasn't crazy about the new normal, and kind of lamented in my head that there wasn't another night that Zander's dance class was offered.  But I never said a word to anyone, and I know how much work goes into making the schedules at the dance school, so I didn't feel like I wanted to ask about another class and cause more work for the owners. 

But yesterday afternoon, I got a phone call from the dance school.  They had so many kids interested in Zander's class for fall, that they decided to add another one on a different night of the week, and were we interested in switching.  I was hesitant at first, admittedly.  Our schedule was set in my mind, and the night we would be switching to is truly our only free night of the week- I was kind of protective of it.  But as our conversation went on, I got more and more excited, and by the end of the phone call, I'd switched Zander's class to the new night.  As I hung up the phone, all I could do was giggle, because I knew that God had just blessed me.  Not just me, but our whole family, as our Wednesday night just became so much more enjoyable and relaxed.

I kind of sat on that idea all yesterday afternoon.  Isn't it just like God to answer our prayers when we haven't really even made a request?  I saw this verse this morning, and I thought about how that could have been me in another few months.  As the snow will eventually start flying, and I could just see myself getting more and more tense about all this driving back-and-forth stuff.  That would have been me, crying out to God for mercy as we lived out this crazy schedule that we made for ourselves.  And now it's a non-issue.  God looked at our situation, and just knew how much it would bless us to have Zander's class on a different night, and He set things into motion to make it happen.  God knew how much this would delight me!  I love thinking about that.  This may seem like such a simple, basic thing, but it really speaks volumes to me that God does care about our every day.  He does care about something as simple as how busy our week is, and He can change things up just because it will make us happy for it to be changed up.

So if God will answer the prayers we have not prayed even, how much more will He answer our genuine prayers- our cries for mercy.  What a thought this morning. What a great thought, that we can call on God all the days of our lives, and He hears us- even when we don't call.  I love Him so much.